Ruby
by Loki Milano
Summary: My own series based between S3 and S4, The Doctor stops in a different town for a change, and meets a young woman with her own little secret... I started writing this just after series 2 ended.
1. Double Vision

Double Vision

**Double Vision**

There was a gentle whirring of engines as footsteps echoed hollowly on the metal floor as a tall man with messy brown hair, dark brown eyes and wearing a blue suit teamed with sneakers checked levers and buttons on a control panel surrounding a huge class tube. Something beeped on one of the screens, and he walked over, peering at it curiously.

"Hello then, what's this?" he asked no one in particular.

For now he was by himself, his usual companion, a young woman named Martha, was at home visiting her family after a particularly harrowing alien encounter. It involved clones and secret military operations, and strangely enough, a rabbit. But that was a story for another time. It was quite warm in that control room, which was why his long brown trench coat was hung up over a column. There was no natural light, just a kind of bright blue glow and a few lights on the walls, showing a coppery bronze design with spheres stuck in to it.

"Hang on a minute…" the man, popularly known as The Doctor, frowned.

He grabbed hold of a metal bar as the room he was in juddered and shook, causing him to stumble. Suddenly realising he should probably be alarmed; he frantically started trying to track the course of his ship, the Tardis. The thing that's control room he was in. He pulled something that looked like a choke out, and twisted a dial.

"Not so fast whoever you are." he muttered

Then, much to his annoyance, the whole thing powered down and went offline, staying perfectly stationary. In vain he pressed this button and that, trying to change measurements or find an emergency power display. He gritted his teeth in frustration, before the Tardis suddenly lurched to the side again, worryingly quickly, like it was being drawn by something. He grabbed a small object from his pocket, a screwdriver no less. He held it up to the control panel as he struggled to keep his footing with the sharp movements almost knocking him down. A blue light glowed, directed at the control panel. However, it didn't seem to be able to keep up with the speed of everything else.

"Knock it off out there!" the Doctor yelled to the sky.

As is on cue, the ship landed with a thump, knocking him off his feet, as it powered up again. Dizzily he stood up, grabbed his coat, and struggled to make his way to the doors. As they opened, he lost his balance and pitched forwards. He waited for the impact of the ground to knock the wind out of him. Only, he stopped mid fall, as someone at his side grabbed his elbow, surprisingly strong.

"Amber! I told you not to do that!" a worried young female voice called.

The Doctor, still being held up by this phantom girl, looked up and saw the profile of his catcher, probably around her late teens, with chestnut brown hair, although the front bits were dyed bright pink. As he managed to focus more, he noted that she was wearing a pale blue t-shirt, and dark blue jeans with black sneakers. On the arm that was holding him up, the right; there was a silver bangle with mother of pearl dolphins as the clasp.

"Are you ok?"

She turned to him with concern, smiling slightly, and the Doctor was startled by her brilliant fresh-grass green eyes. Realising that she was still holding up, when he was a head or so taller than her, he straightened himself up and looked at her. He saw behind her the person she had addressed earlier, and was completely confused. She was a mirror image of his leaning post, only her hair had blue streaks, she was a light purple t-shirt and black jeans.

"Um, yea, thanks. Just a little surprised." he replied.

"See Ruby, he's perfectly fine! I told you I knew what to do." Amber said, smiling smugly.

"So fine he fell over." Ruby muttered so her twin wouldn't hear, although the Doctor did.

"Can you tell me what just happened?"

"Oh, I whipped up a machine to contact any alien life forms out there, and you turned up with your…" she stared at the Tardis, which was in fact a blue police box, she looked faintly disappointed. "…Box…"

"This isn't just any old box." said the Doctor indignantly, forgetting he didn't actually know who they were. "But…hang on, how did a kid manage to make something that overrode my commands? Why were you looking for alien life forms anyway? In fact, let's start at the beginning. Who the heck are you?"

"Amber Arduino." Introduced the blue-haired one, offering her hand. "This is my sister Ruby."

Ruby just gave a shy smile as Amber gave the Doctor a firm handshake, much to his surprise slash amusement. He was faintly impressed. Not many people would be able to know enough about his sort of technology to call the Tardis to them, which he presumed had happened. Amber looked rather proud of herself as well, Ruby just sort of stayed in the background.

"So…who are you?" queried Amber.

"I'm the Doctor." He wasn't going to bother with a cover name. They clearly knew he wasn't from, wherever they were from.

"Doctor who?" Amber raised an eyebrow.

"Just the Doctor." He smiled.

"Remember Amber, the guy who stopped those robot things, a couple years ago? He's also the guy on that website you found the other day." added Ruby.

"You've heard of me?" the Doctor tried to hide his pride.

Ruby nodded, "Of course we have. Our cousin was in the queue just before those metal things all blew up, so you saved her. We lost a lot of people in our neighbourhood though." She replied sadly.

"Where am I then, and when?"

The Doctor didn't want to think about that day, he'd lost the woman he loved. She was still alive, yes, but he could never see her again, so he was trying to move the conversation on quickly. Amber was completely oblivious to the fact, just walking around the Tardis, inspecting it. Ruby however picked it up, and played along, much to his relief.

"Plymouth, August 2009." she told him, holding up a newspaper to back up her point.

"And…why am I here?"

"We hoped you could help us." Amber noted her sister's glare, and rolled her eyes, "OK, _I_ thought you could."

"With what?" the Doctor peered at them.

The two girls exchanged a look, a wary one that said they were serious now, and nervous. They looked around, and then nodded, motioning for the Doctor to follow them. It was like they thought they were being watched there. The pair kept looking over their shoulders, Ruby more often than Amber, and the Doctor just kept up with them, wondering where they were going. He had only just met them, but something told him they were trustworthy. He was led to a ring of trees, and much to his surprise, they walked straight through them. Even more amazing was that when they had, they were in front of a small lake, completely closed off by trees and bushes, except the one path they had taken.

"I'm not going any further." announced the Doctor.

"OK." sighed Amber, "I think it should be ok here."

Ruby stayed back, sitting on a grassy mound by the lake, hugging her knees and staring out across the water as Amber turned to the Doctor, leaning against a tree. The twins looked, quite frankly, terrified. The air was completely silent, but smelled of something sweet, like jasmine and grass cuttings, and there was a warm breeze coming in. It was so still it was unnerving.

"So what's going on then?" asked the man, half out of pure curiosity, half out of impatience.

"Weird things have been happening." begun Amber dubiously, "Unnatural things."

"Such as?" pushed the Doctor.

"When we walked here, did you notice anything peculiar?"

The Doctor stood, recalling the walk, and looking thoughtful. He realised that although it was a beautiful summer day, not a single person had been outside anywhere, except the odd kid, or some young teenagers that seemed to have been daring their friends to step out of their front doors. He turned to them, instantly on guard, if no-one else was venturing outside, why were they, and how had they made that machine?

"Exactly." continued Amber. "You want to know what's going on. You might have guessed. For the passed few months, since last September, first one person, then another, then small groups of people have gone on 'holiday'." She didn't seem to believe that in the slightest. "It almost seemed normal, like it had been planned. But then the tally showed there was something really not right about it."

"They were disappearing?" the Doctor grimaced.

"That's the thing." Amber glanced around warily, "Exactly three months after the first disappearance, the same people kept coming back. Exactly the same numbers, exactly the same order, exactly the same breaks between the days, exactly the same time."

"Well, that's good isn't it?"

"No, no it isn't. Because once they came back, nobody has ever seen them again. They never leave their houses. People are still disappearing, although the town is big, our community, the roads where it was happening, were soon emptied. So Ruby noticed a pattern."

Ruby glanced up on hearing her name, but it didn't really register what they were talking about. It clearly made her edgy, and instead she just stared intently at her reflection in the water. It was like she was wishing that she could disappear, just to get away from things. There was more going on in her head than met the eye.

"First it was every adult you can think of. Then, after most of them had been covered, everyone else disappeared on their eighteenth birthday, and came back three months later. At school, it was only years 7-12, and the odd year 13, who weren't 18 yet. Even the substitutes vanished after a couple of weeks."

"I see." The Doctor pondered. He hadn't come across something like this before.

"Strange, right?"

"So, no-one ever leaves their houses? Unless they're under 18. Hang on…if you don't mind me asking, how old are you two?"

"17." called Ruby, startling the other two at suddenly speaking, "18 in 3 days." she added glumly.

"See why we were looking for help?" desperate Amber finished.

"Well, if they won't come out, we'll have to go to them. If it's a small community, they'll know you right?"

"Which means they're less likely to let us in," Ruby's voice had just an edge of bitterness to it, although she tried to cover it.

"Why's that?" questioned the Doctor.

"Everyone knows us as the 'Weird Sisters'" she explained, "Because we've always been interested in things outside of here, earth."

"What's wrong with that? I find it quite amiable."

"They get scared of us, ever since all those alien attacks in the passed few years. A lot of the kids thought it was our fault."

Then she stopped, unwilling to say another word. Obviously not much of a talker, and she didn't much appreciate the image that they had gained. Or rather, more specifically, Amber had gained them. She was the dominant twin, the brains behind the operations and experiments, she always roped Ruby in to her ventures, and Ruby just went along with it, because she didn't have the heart or daring to leave Amber to her own devices. Someone had to keep an eye on her.

"I don't know what you want me to do." The Doctor replied, "Surely if everyone's affected, you can investigate at home?"

"Our house seems to be the only one that it's missed." Amber shrugged.

"Which really doesn't help our reputation." sighed Ruby.

A little while later, when Amber announced they were 'safe' from whatever they were hiding from in the first place, the Doctor was led back to their house, with Ruby traipsing some way behind, distracted by something. There was no sound at all. Not even their footsteps had a tone, as they were all wearing sneakers. It sent shivers down the spine, it was warm, but it was like everything had been frozen mid-movement. There was still that smell, it didn't seem to leave them alone.

Amber stopped as they got to a street of mainly old Victorian and Georgian houses. Their's was apparently an old Victorian one. There were steps leading up to the front door, and either side bay windows. The second floor, where there seemed to be a landing, was hidden behind a stained glass window.

"Home sweet home." Amber opened the door, and motioned for the Doctor to go in.

They were greeted by the scent of something cooking, and it smelled good. The Doctor instantly felt at home in this house. It was well kept and cosy, with plenty of space for alone time. It was obviously much loved, and there was a definite air of solidarity in it.

"Mum?" called Amber.

"That you Am? Ruby?" came a friendly female voice from the kitchen, "You've been gone a while."

"We brought someone back to introduce you to."

Amber waltzed off in to the kitchen. Ruby suddenly caught sight of the grandfather clock against the wall. Her eyes widened, and she ran upstairs. Slightly lost, as he was now abandoned, Doctor followed Amber's cue and went in to the kitchen. A woman was standing over a burnt orange aga, stirring sauces. She turned around and smiled at the Doctor, and he could almost be looking at a third version of the twins. Only she had brown eyes, not green.

"Hello there." she greeted, offering her hand. "Where's Ruby?"

"Hi." the Doctor shook it.

"Mum, this is the Doctor. He dropped by earlier, and I thought he could help." introduced Amber.

The woman gave a puzzled frown. She knew her daughters were a little on the adventurous side, and had some strange hobbies, but she was genuinely confused. As far as she knew, none of the family were ill. With five kids a dog and two cats, that was quite an achievement. The two boys, older than the twins, were outside, with the baby of the family, a ten year old girl.

"Help with what?" Mrs Arduino queried.

"Our unusual circumstances." expanded Amber.

Mrs Arduino's eyes widened in surprise and fear. She was about to protest, how could her daughters dare bring a complete stranger in to the house, to deal with whatever it was, considering how dire the situation had gotten? They all tried hard to hide their wariness with a sunny disposition and carry on as normal, but it was the most difficult thing they had ever done. However, she was interrupted by the arrival of Ruby. The girl looked like she'd been caught doing something wrong, as she had been planning on slipping in quietly, and then leaving. She was clutching a blue cloth bag tightly, and didn't seem to dare let go of the lid. The Doctor was sure he had seen something moving.

"Hello Ruby dear." Mrs Arduino's face lit up at the appearance.

"Hey, mum." muttered the girl awkwardly in reply.

As the three females delved in to a sort of conversation, it was rather two sided, as Ruby seemed reluctant to join in, the Doctor fiddled with something behind his back. Her behaviour was so strange, and had been since he met her, that he was quite frankly, suspicious of her. She seemed to know more about what was going on than Amber, bitter about their circumstances, yet she let Amber take the spotlight without protesting once. He pressed down on his sonic screwdriver, taking a scan of her, and her bag.

"Did you want something Ruby dear? You seemed to be looking for something when you came in? I'm afraid dinner's not ready yet."

"Um, no, that's fine." struggled Ruby.

"She's right you know. You've been sneaking around all day lately. Did you lose something? You could just say, I know how proud you are, and you wouldn't like to admit you had misplaced something, Miss Hyper-Organised, but seriously, it's annoying."

Amber's tone startled Ruby, knocking her off her stride. Her voice had seemed so different, accusing and cutting. Even Mrs Arduino was amazed. Ruby was normally cheerful and unassuming, proud was never something she would describe her older twin girl as. The pair were always together, never fell out or had a bad word to say about each other. Admittedly, Ruby was normally very happy and outgoing, and had been different lately, as if something was preoccupying her, but she thought it was probably just a phase.

"Amber…" Mrs Arduino said hesitatingly, "That's quite enough."

"But mum!" protested Amber, "It's true! Ever since we finished school!" she announced, "She's barely said a word, she's been really grumpy, she doesn't listen to me, and it's really getting on my nerves!"

"Amber!" cried her mother

Mrs Arduino looked embarrassed on her children's behalf. Ruby was just stunned. The woman looked at the Doctor apologetically, with a desperate look which she hoped he knew meant they weren't usually like that. Amber seemed completely oblivious to what she was saying, she was just furious. Ruby clutched her bag, staring at the ground.

"What is wrong with you?!" clearly Amber wasn't done, "Longstanding PMS or something?"

"Are you quite finished?" asked Ruby, resigned. Her sister had never spoken to her like that before. "Maybe I'm just sick of you being a hot-headed know it all always blundering in to things and dragging me down with you." she replied, perfectly calm. "If you'll excuse me."

Ruby turned on her heel and left. The second she did, Amber seemed to wake up, and instantly looked mortified at what she had just said to her sister, and best friend. She stared at Mrs Arduino in disbelief. Then she flew out of the door, and her footsteps disappeared upstairs.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry sir." apologised Mrs Arduino, "They're probably just uneasy. We all are. You came to help as well, I'm so embarrassed."

"Not at all Mrs Arduino."

"Please, call me Juliana."

"Should you go after Amber? I can see if Ruby's ok if you like." He offered.

"Oh! Would you? That's so kind…thank you."

In truth, the Doctor had a few questions for Ruby. He went out of the door, gave Juliana a reassuring nod as she went up the stairs, and slipped out of the front door after his target. As the door closed, something whizzed passed, just missing where his head had been. He caught the girl sitting on a ridge a little up the pathway. She sitting at an angle, so he couldn't see what she was doing, although she was definitely doing something.

"Hello Ruby…what've you got there?"

She looked up, startled, and spun around, just as there was a scream from inside the house, an explosion that shook the whole ground, and the two bay windows exploded outwards. Instinctively, the Doctor lunged forward, protecting her, and she covered what was at her side. Her bag. The pair looked around, Ruby more than amazed he was trying to save her, and saw something she really didn't want to. It was the same weird crackling green energy that had surrounded every other house and building in this part of the town. It was back. Just before the occupants disappeared it put in an appearance. They'd declined to mention it to the Doctor, in case he changed his mind about sticking around.

"What's going on?!" she cried. "My family is in there!"

"Be thankful you're not." The Doctor was now strictly business.

"But…! Mum! Amber!"

"They'll be ok, for now we just have to get out of here."

She suddenly found herself pulled to her feet, as the Doctor grabbed her hand and started running. She desperately snatched at her bag, grabbing one of the straps, and was soon flying down the road, clutching a complete stranger's hand for dear life.

"Where are we going?!" she cried.

The whole ground was shaking, as though some circuit had been completed, every house was now crackling with the strange force they were fleeing from. Every now and then, a dart would shoot out, aiming for Ruby, but it never seemed to get her, just rebounded, the Doctor noticed this, but didn't draw attention to it.

"Where's safe?!" he called over the rumbling of the whole town juddering.

"I'm guessing nowhere!"

Before long, they both jumped in time over a bench; although the pink-haired girl was amazed she made it. Must be the adrenalin. The Doctor came to where they had met before, and barrelled in to his Tardis, still clutching Ruby's hand. The Tardis wasn't affected by the surroundings, and the pair flopped on to the ground, exhausted.

"That's it! That's what appeared when it all started!" she was so frightened she was shaking.

"Calm down. You're no use if you're a basket case. Are you ok? Physically, I mean."

She nodded apprehensively, "I think so."

"Good." The Doctor smiled

It was then that she noticed his shoulder was bleeding, and a fragment of glass was lodged in it. She covered her mouth, and her eyes watered. That was because he'd taken care of her. He saw her looking, but tried to shrug it off like it was nothing.

"Just a scratch." He smiled.

"That's not a scratch. Let me look."

She helped him take off his jacket, although he seemed reluctant. He bit his lip to stop from saying anything. His acquaintance took his arm, stretching it out, and inspected the shard of glass as her bangle slid up her wrist.

"I need to get that out, before it shatters…but it'll hurt."

She looked at him apprehensively, but he just nodded, she was right. She used her spare hand to whip a bandana out of the front pocket of her bag, a light blue one with white and dark blue edging. She opened it out, and then folded it differently, holding it over the glass. Her eyes met his, and she squeezed his hand, as she extracted it, he squeezed it back, clearly it was painful.

"It's ok, it didn't splinter. Nasty cut though. Is there a bin?"

He found it rather strange, but was touched all the same that she was putting her family to the back of her mind temporarily to help him. He nodded, and pointed with his good arm to a small metal bucket. She smiled, it was the first time he'd ever seen her smile, and it suited her. She placed his hand over his wound, and pressed down. He kept a hold of it as she binned the glass.

"You've stained that bandana." he pointed out.

"I can get another one." She shrugged.

His temporary nurse walked back over, and pressed the clean side of her bandana over his shoulder, tying it tightly around and knotting it at the front, so it didn't poke him in the side. He smirked slightly. Martha would be impressed. Or jealous. Maybe both. Then he looked startled, as did Ruby, because the very second her hand finished the knot, a soft purple light, in the shape of her fingertips, glowed on his shoulder. The blood from the bandana disappeared, and the Doctor noticed it didn't hurt at all any more. He lifted the accessory, to reveal a completely fixed and stain-free shirt. His gash was healed.

"Ruby…" he said, still staring at that spot, "What exactly are you hiding?"

Without her having to say a word, the question was answered. Her bag started shuffling. Out popped something small, purple, and fluffy, cat-shaped ears with black tips first. It seemed to make a yawning noise, as it's large almond-shaped eyes opened, revealing a bright blue colour. It looked almost like some kind of stuffed animal as it blinked. It had a tiny black nose, and a small cat-like mouth, with miniscule fangs protruding it, like on a puppy or kitten.

"Wow." The Doctor looked amazed.

The thing, just slightly larger than a tennis ball, looked around, as it's eyes fixed on Ruby, it's face lit up. Slightly clumsily, propelled by small feathery wings on it's back, it flew upwards. It zoomed over to Ruby, head butting her, as landings seemed to be a bit of a problem, and made a sort of mewing sound, it's tiny fox-like tail flicking happily.

"Is that what I think it is?" the Doctor stared wide-eyed and delighted at the little creature in front of him.

"This is Kitsune…" introduced Ruby, rather awkwardly, the whole situation seemed surreal, "Or, Kit for short."

On hearing it's name, the creature made another happy mew slash squeaking sound. The Doctor tentatively reached out, mentally asking Ruby if he could hold it. The bemused Kit found herself passed from one set of hands to another. The Doctor brought his face up to his hands, looking at her face to face. It tilted inquisitively, regarding him.

"Beautiful." He smiled, "However did you meet her?"

"Um, sort of by accident." Ruby blushed, "A few months ago, I was walking home from school. I saw her curled up at the corner of a fence. I thought it was a tennis ball that one of the guy's from school had lost? …She was yellow when I got her…so I picked her up. She suddenly kind of woke up and looked at me. Man was I surprised."

"I can imagine." replied the Doctor, in a voice pressing her to explain a little further.

"Then suddenly she unfurled or something. I saw the tail and the wings, although she was really small. So I was standing in the middle of town, staring dumbly at a tennis ball. I apologised, and put her back. Didn't want to be rude or anything."

"Of course not."

"But when I started walking again, she followed me. So I took her home, looked after her. The rest is pretty much history."

There was silence for a minute. It was almost as if they had forgotten about what was going on outside. Neither of them had of course, but they were both mentally going over ways to save everyone, and stop whatever it was. The Doctor knew precisely what was going on, but for now was trying to keep Ruby more at ease, so she could help more. Plus, he quite liked her. Out of her sister's shadow she seemed much nicer and more relaxed.

"You're very lucky." He pointed out.

"Um…am I?"

"Yep. Kit is a Vegrandis."

"Vegrandis?"

"The Vegrandis are a race of aliens, there were once billions of them, as many as there are stars in the sky."

"What happened?"

"Less pleasant species moved in, and they dropped to just about 3 billion…" he stopped, hesitant.

"Then? I told you mine…"

"Then there was a big war. They got caught up in it. Wrong place, wrong time scenario. There are a handful of them left. No more than about twelve I would think."

"That's so sad." Ruby looked at Kitsune, who seemed to be listening intently.

"But they learned their lesson. After that, the few that were left turned away from everyone and everything. They don't trust anyone or anything."

"How did I end up with Kit then?" queried Ruby.

"Anyone or anything, except a species as rare as them." He grinned at her bashfulness as she stared at the floor.

"Do I want to know?" she murmured.

"The Vegrandis only appear to people who are utterly selfless and caring. Pure at heart, if you will. Much like themselves"

"I think she missed her target then." responded Ruby mutely.

"If she had, you wouldn't have been able to do what you did. Kit here is a baby you see."

At that point, the afore mentioned fluttered out of the Doctor's hands, and landed on Ruby's shoulder, nuzzling in to her. Her mistress smiled, scratching her behind the ears gently. The Doctor watched them curiously, seeing how they interacted. Ruby looked up at him, waiting for him to finish what he said.

"The Vegrandis are a race where family is very important. Each member of the family absorbs traits from others, passing on skills and personalities, even appearances, so that they can always be with each other, even if not physically."

"Come again?"

"Basically, you and Kit have in a way exchanged DNA, absorbed traits from each other. Her personality, and letting me touch her, come from you being used to people. The healing came about because it is an ability that her family would have had. Different combinations of things cause different traits, every Vegrandis is unique, from eye colour to abilities. Do you like purple by any chance?" Ruby nodded, and the Doctor motioned to Kit's fur colour. "The sleeping and becoming attached to people are more human abilities that Kit has gained from you. Usually they never sleep, and only interact with each other."

"Wait…so you're saying…" Ruby looked horrified, "I'm like, part alien?"

The Doctor laughed, "You could say that." Then he turned serious, "Why do you think that you're the only person that hasn't been affected by that radiation?"

"What are you on about?"

That was when the blow came. Apparently, as the Doctor had suspected for a while, a race of aliens called the Sika were behind the attacks. They fed on the energy created by emotions, and there was no better species for emotions than the humans. He hadn't been sure, up until Amber had exploded at Ruby. The infection started with raising a person's emotions to their highest point, and exploiting it. Ruby froze. So, she'd just left her family to have their emotions fried and taken away from them? The Doctor noticed her expression, as she clung on to Kit. Her friend took him to be the one that had upset her mistress, and with an indignant mew, she head butted him, then gave a sort of harrumph and returned to Ruby's arms. He had to stop himself from smiling; she had definitely picked up a few things from her carer.

"How do we stop them?" the girl said suddenly.

"Well, it might be a bit tricky..."

"I don't care. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"You've changed your tune."

"It's my fault they were all left vulnerable. I took Kit away."

"Are you sure about this? You don't know what you're getting yourself in to."

"Don't know, don't care. Give me a job, any job."

"Where did this whole thing start?"

"Mega Bite, the internet café."

"Then that's where we'll go."

Ruby was about to head out of the door, when the Doctor caught her wrist, stopping her. He gave a knowing wink, and she stared dumbly at him. The girl was rooted to the spot, as the Doctor put the co-ordinates in to the system. How he knew them, she didn't like to guess. Especially as she suddenly had a roll of cable all but thrown at her, and something that looked rather like a TV remote. Kit ducked and hid on her other shoulder so she didn't get hit. Ruby struggled to stay on her feet as the bumpy machine shuttered to life and started making strange noises, to which she raised her eyebrow. Her acquaintance just gave her a bright grin, and they landed with a thud that sent her sprawling on to her back side, although she was still making sure to hold the cable and remote.

"Wow. That's gonna bruise." she winced as the Doctor helped her up.

"All right?" he asked cheekily.

"Just peachy." she replied, disgruntled.

She hefted her bag on to her back, and the Doctor put the cable and control in it, so it was less conspicuous, and Kit retreated in to the middle of the coil as he opened the door to let his temporary companion out before him, he was a gentleman some of the time. They stepped outside, and Ruby's head spun. They were in a completely different place, in fact facing the fire exit of a sandy-coloured brick building, with warm air blowing from a pipe in to their face, in an alley. She pulled a face as she had to side-step out of the door to avoid hitting the wall, the parking job was not great, and she had to avoid something that she didn't recognise, nor did she want to, on the floor.

"Do you need a license to drive that thing?" she stated bluntly.

The Doctor scratched his head in embarrassment, and gave a nervous laugh, but he promptly shut and locked the doors, no turning back now, his friend realised this and her face blanched. He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, whilst simultaneously propelling her towards the fire exit. Helpfully, it didn't open from the outside, and she sighed in aggravation. However, the Doctor stepped in front of her, whipping his screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. He aimed it at the catch, and the pair had to jump backwards as it flew open, towards them. He closed the door behind him, and walked on a few steps, only to crash in to the back of Ruby, who had suddenly frozen.

"Your brake lights aren't working!" he complained.

"Did you get the right address?" she had dismissed his comment.

"I never make mistakes. Except that one time…where I stranded a friend of mine in Scotland…"

"You sure?"

"Positive. Wh…." Then he stopped mid-question as he saw what she saw. "Oh."

It was not your average café. They had waltzed in to a metal-floored, cavernous, thing. It was huge, everything was metal, whirring and beeping. A single giant fan spun around in the ceiling, and under the flooring was another. There were metal stairs leading to all different levels, so spaced out you could barely see one side from the other. In the centre was a turbine like thing that reminded them of an aeroplane engine. Around that was a control panel not dissimilar to the Doctor's. Lined up along the wall to the left of them were glass panels.

"They've redecorated." pointed out Ruby.

"Oh, I see, so you're allowed to make jokes…" rebuffed the man.

"That's me!" cried the girl.

"Come again?"

Without him noticing, she had seemingly power walked to the front of the panels. She was all but pressing her nose against one of them, bottom left, and her eyes widened as she watched her own past up until now flickering in front of her, hologram style. The Doctor peered over her shoulder, half because he wanted to learn more about her, and half because he wanted to work out what it was.

"I think we found the bank." he branded.

"Really? Then what am I worth, a penny?"

"The bank where the Sika store their harvest. There only seem to be six left. Your family most likely. It hasn't been extracted yet."

"My family are not fuel!" an indignant girl argued.

"Even so. You do realise we most likely set off an alarm by coming here."

"Damn."

"Pretty much. So we better work fast."

He made a beeline for the turbine in the centre, and Ruby was hot on his heels, already half handing him the cable as Kit fluttered upwards and perched on her head, like a rather novelty hat. The pair watched in amazement and interest as the leader of their mission worked with quick fingers, and an equally quick screwdriver, realigning cables, turning off some things, turning on others. He motioned for her to pass him something else, and hold up a section of the wire. They worked in absolute silence, their concentration focused on getting things in a particular way. Kit twittered, flapping off Ruby's head in alarm. She turned to her, confused, then looked down. The ground beneath their feet was vibrating. Then came the distant echo of rapid thuds, like someone running, a lot of someones.

"Ah. Here comes the cavalry."

"Ugh." groaned Ruby,

"Got a pen?"

"What?"

"Pen, you know, thing you write with?"

She pulled a face, before rummaging around in the side pocket of her bag. She whipped out a biro, a nice bright pink with coloured stripes on the barrel. Typical teenage girl. She shrugged at the Doctor's sceptical look. He wanted a pen, there was a pen. He clicked it on, pressing it in to a small reset button. As the runners came nearer, the Doctor put the front panel back on the turbine, and was just turning away from it, when a sudden silence, followed by a series of clicking, alerted them to the fact that the cavalry had arrived. And they had laser guns aimed at their foreheads.

"Intruders located. Subjects seem to be two apparently human specimens."

Both of their eyes scanned upwards, resting on the face of a creature that looked like a man, wearing an army uniform, only he was hairy, with trotters, and the head of a boar. Nasty looking tusks included. He had over one squinted dull brown eye something that looked like a monocle, only was flashing.

"I resent that remark. I am not a human." The impudent Doctor protested.

"Hey, what's wrong with humans?" retaliated Ruby.

"Nothing…nothing at all." he covered, "Although technically you aren't either."

"Thanks for the reminder."

"Silence!" demanded the tusk-head. "Place your weapon on the floor in front of you. Do not look down and keep one hand above your head."

"Weapon?" he stared at the pen, "This?"

He shrugged, and put it slowly down by his feet. The pair of them were forced, by a signal of one of the laser lights, to step away from the console. They ended up back to back standing on the ground above the floor fan. The crowd of soldiers, all looking the same as the one that had spoken, only with smaller tusks, parted to let another down the staircase. He was taller than all of them, with black fur, instead of brown, and his tusks were ornately carved, filled in with gold. He had a cloak over his black camouflage-patterned uniform.

"Interference with ship systems." He said gruffly, "Bind them."

"You're kidding." whispered Ruby.

"Hey, be thankful they haven't shot us." came the lowered reply.

"Yet."

"You will not confer unless spoken to."

Ruby tensed up as she found her wrists being tied to the Doctor's by metal rope. She kept mentally willing him to move, do something, grab his sonic screwdriver, just anything that might get them out of this. But he was biding his time. They hadn't shot them, or said much, because they were interested in how he had overridden their controls, he knew this, although Ruby didn't. The Sika, despite their appearance, were a technologically advanced race. A long time a go they had co-operated with the Time Lords, shared their experiments and findings. It was how the ship was crammed in to one tiny building.

"State your name and business." demanded the leader as he stood midway down the stairs, looking at them.

"This is Ruby, and I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you."

"Speak for yourself." uttered Ruby quietly.

"The Doctor indeed. I am Zak Am, Captain of this ship. I've heard about your ventures in the past. My grandfather quite admired you."

"Well, that's nice, thanks."

"Tell me Doctor. Why are you attempting to sabotage us? We have done nothing to you."

"I'm afraid I can't just let you drain this town of all their emotions. It's rude."

"How are we to supply our planet without putting this minor species to good use? You know better than any, our reserves are long gone. It should be considered an honour. They are small, insignificant. They have the chance to do something greater."

"Yea, but did they have the _choice_?" growled Ruby,

A warning nudge from the Doctor caused her to bite her tongue. Much as she hated to admit it, he seemed to know what was going on. She wasn't stupid, she had definitely sensed some kind of mutual respect between her strange counterpart and these creatures. It might be what got them out of this mess. The leader regarded her closely, not showing annoyance so much as intrigue.

"What are you?" he queried.

"Beg pardon?" Ruby blinked.

"Your species does not register on our computers."

"Please tell me you're joking."

"This one? She's a new, brand spanking, shiny and clean, not even out of the box, one of a kind species. Only one in the whole universe."

"Is that so? Her race?" pressed Zak Am.

"Vegrandan." The Doctor gave one of his dazzling grins.

"What does she do?"

"I'm standing right here, just so you know."

"Well, Captain Am. She can show you. If you just let her go." The Captain seemed reluctant, "You have my word, Time Lord to Sika that she won't run away."

Zak Am paused for a moment, his nostrils flaring as he thought. Eventually he nodded, and motioned for the two guards that had initially tied them up to let her go. A more than panicky Ruby stared daggers at the Doctor. What the hell was she meant to do? She did not have any powers, as he had suggested, and she was not the best of actresses. He simply shrugged his shoulders. Immediately, she realised what her cue was. Looking around for something, and not finding it, she closed her eyes, and biting her lip, scored her arm with a nail. Not too hard, just hard enough for small beads of blood to spring up. The shivering of Kit in her bag, the little creature had sensed it would be a bad idea to put in an appearance, reminded her she could do it. Staring at the scratch, she took a breath, and brushed her fingers across it. The trace of her finger tips glowed purple, before her arm sealed itself up.

"Impressive. You might be useful to us."

Zak Am clicked his fingers, as the Doctor gave Ruby a thumbs up behind his back. Then, unsure of what was going on, the two guards seized her wrists, pulling her roughly away from the Doctor. She squirmed around, reaching out to him, but the guards were too strong, and surprisingly fast. She was dragged back, under one of the balconies, stopped from moving anywhere by crossed guns.

"What are you doing with her?" only now had an edge of anger crept in to his voice.

"Oh, Doctor." Zak Am gave a sort of menacing chuckle, "Do you think we wouldn't do our research before selecting our target?"

"Does that have anything to do with it?" protested the captive.

"We knew there might be a chance that you would find it fit to interfere with our operation, regarding your history of saving this pathetic little planet so often."

"So?"

"Search him!"

"Wait, no! Stop it! Leave him alone!" yelled Ruby, lunging forward, only to be cut off again by guns crossing under her throat.

The Doctor was untied and roughly frisked by the guards, who relieved him of everything from his coat, to his sonic screwdriver. As his coat was wrenched away, the controller clattered out of his pocket and on to the floor. He'd been played. Zak Am had managed to use past alliances to get him to lower his defence. The Captain scooped up the control, and laughed in amusement.

"What do we have here?" he held it up for his men to see, "The signal that will disrupt our computers, I presume?"

He flipped it over, undoing the back. He regarded the workmanship for a few moments, before eventually nodding, and flipping it closed. They all gave their approvals, the closest thing to a nod and a wink the Doctor would ever get from any of them, and didn't he know it.

"Excellent craftsmanship, I wouldn't expect less from a Time Lord. Especially you Doctor." he turned to a startled Ruby, waving it in her face.

"Do you know what this is, Vegrandan?"

"To me it's just a bunch of buttons." replied Ruby honestly.

"Oh, so you didn't tell her." Zak Am gave a nasty smile.

"Tell me what?" insisted Ruby, more anxious when the Doctor refused to meet her eye.

"This little piece of equipment might well override our computers…" he paused for effect, "But it will take all we've gathered with it."

"Huh?" she still didn't get it.

"Meaning the energy of every single person targeted, will disperse with it. Never to come back again."

"It would kill them?!" shrieked Ruby, looking to the Doctor for confirmation, but still he stared at the floor.

"As well as. They would be vegetables. You helped him do this."

The girl was so upset, that it was painful for the Doctor to look at her. She was utterly distraught. Her whole family were part of that percentage, and he hadn't said a thing. Her expression gave the guards the confidence to drop their weapons, releasing her. She wasn't going anywhere. Zak Am looked at her, almost sympathetically, and clicked his tongue as he shook his head at the Doctor. He dropped the control, standing on it and kicking it aside.

"You can stay with us here, Vegrandan. I don't suppose you'll want to be with that monster any more."

Ruby started at this accusation. The Doctor, a monster? But he had saved her, got hurt for it. She remembered how delighted he'd looked when he saw Kit, his face lighting up like a little boy. He reminded her of her older brothers, and she didn't see any traits in him that might earn that title. There was a resounding silence for a while, as the Doctor finally looked up and met her eye. The guards began to dispatch.

"Dispose of him." Zak Am waved a hand casually in someone's direction.

That was what woke her up. Now there was only Zak Am, the two guards that had disarmed the Doctor, and the other two who had stopped her from reaching him. She froze, wondering what exactly Zak Am meant by that. She soon found out. The ground shifted beneath the Doctor's feet, evidently it meant him falling several hundred feet, and if that didn't get him, the fan would. Automatically, he tried to move out of the way, but there was no ground for him to move to. In a flash, like her body was not her own, Ruby leapt forward, catching the Doctor's wrist in her hands as he fell. Zak Am looked astounded.

"What's this?! You're still helping him, after what you just learned?"

"I can't believe you. There has to be a catch, I'm sorry." She seemed genuinely apologetic.

Her grip was slipping. It was a tall order for a teenage girl to hold up a fully grown man who was over six foot, dangling above certain death, but she didn't let go. It was then Zak Am noticed something else. The control was gone from where he'd kicked it. He turned in horror as the Doctor, between his own efforts and hers, was heaved to safety. Kneeling on the floor by him, Ruby looked sorrowfully at Zak Am, she knew he had really been interested in her, and pushed the button. Although they hung on to each other, the two travelling companions were so close to the control panel that the explosion blew them away. The panels smashed, the Sika howled in agony, retreating, as the ship began tearing itself apart. About the time that the turbine came crashing down, both Ruby and the Doctor blacked out.

"She's coming to! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

The voice was foreign. From her bleary unconsciousness, the pink-haired girl was slowly coming around. She finally opened her eyes, and painfully sat up. The voice had come from a male paramedic, kneeling over her with a concerned face, and an oxygen mask. Taking in her surroundings, she realised that she was lying on the floor of the alley way, the burnt out shell of Mega Bite smouldering beside her. From what she gathered, largely from partial conversations and fragmented witness reports to the police, a technical fault in one of the computers had caused an explosion and fire. Fully awake, she looked around for the Tardis, and it was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?!" she cried urgently, "Is he ok?"

"Is who ok honey?" a female paramedic had joined her partner.

"There was a man with me, brown hair, suit, sneakers?"

"Oh, the tall guy?" the first paramedic remembered. Ruby nodded. "He's fine. He woke up before you, amazingly not a scratch on him. He left, but told us to call him when you came to."

"You're a very lucky young lady." added the woman, "No injuries at all, and after being thrown all that way. Amazing."

"Sorry?" she was definitely confused.

"The guy with you. He told us you saved him when you first saw things going wrong, so took most of the blast off him." The man finished.

"He did?"

She couldn't remember much at all. Just sitting by the hole in the floor with the Doctor, then waking up in the alley that had gathered quite a nice little crowd by now. The woman paramedic handed Ruby a glass of water, as the male one borrowed a phone off one of the police officers, presumably to phone the Doctor. She was helped up by the woman and taken to sit on the step at the back of the ambulance. Her bag was given back to her by a middle-aged woman, and she suddenly panicked. Kit. Where was Kit? Was she ok? Did she get hurt? The girl stood bolt upright as she saw a familiar face coming through the crowds. Much to the astonishment of all of them, considering she'd just been blown through the wall of a building, she flew down the road, and flung her arms around an unsuspecting Doctor, tears pricking her eyes. After clinging to him for a moment, she let him go, wiping her cheeks with her arm.

"Love, you shouldn't move so much so fast. You had a nasty knock." protested the paramedic woman.

"It's ok, I'm fine, honest!" assured Ruby, "Thank you for helping me, but you don't have to worry."

"This one's pretty tough ma'm, I promise. I'll escort her home, ok, so you needn't fret."

After some persuasion, the woman consented, and Ruby walked along the road with him, although her mind was in turmoil, thinking about her family, and Kit, if they were still alive. The Doctor noticed this, and smiled at her. He put a hand in his pocket, and brought out a little purple tennis ball. It squeaked with delight on seeing it's mistress, and flew straight in to her arms.

"Kit!" she hugged her little friend tightly, then stared accusingly at the Doctor, "Where were you?" demanded Ruby, "Are Amber and mum, and the others, are they ok?"

He nodded, "They're just fine, thanks to you."

"But I thought…" she trailed off.

"I know. Which was something I was wondering about? You knew what the consequences might be, but you still triggered the magnet anyway, why?"

His companion hesitated for a moment, not really sure how to approach the question. "My initial thought was, what if they went to other parts of the world? That's over six billion people, right?" the Doctor nodded, "I know, I must sound heartless and cruel. But…but, I figured, six lives for six billion." her voice faltered, and she stopped for a moment, "Then I realised, based purely on first impressions I admit, you wouldn't sacrifice even one life if you could avoid it, it's in your face. So you would take precautions, regarding what Zak Am said."

"You have a lot of faith in me." The Doctor sounded thoughtful.

"And somehow, I never even considered that it might be misguided."

They arrived at the Arduino's house much faster than expected, and she had to conceal Kit abruptly. The Tardis was parked on the front lawn, much to Ruby's amusement. The second she stepped in the gates, she was greeted by a flying Amber-shaped object. She was almost knocked off her feet by the hug, and Juliana was waiting at the front door for her, wringing her hands in anticipation.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry!" bawled Amber.

"Whoa, easy girl. It's ok, really." comforted her twin.

"No it's not! I was so horrible to you! You didn't deserve it!"

"I'm sorry too Am." her voice was soft, and calming.

"Well, now you're home safe. I should probably be going." The Doctor was reluctant to interrupt the reunion.

His new friend turned around to stare at him in disbelief. Leave? He couldn't leave, not after everything that had just happened. Wasn't he going to stay and celebrate with them? Their safety was all down to him. He didn't quite know how to react to their pleading stares, and then he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, I almost forgot." he pulled something out of his pocket. "Here." Ruby stepped forward, and laughed as he passed her the pen back. "Thanks for the loan…" he paused, like he was about to carry on, but didn't. "Well, I really had better go. Places to be, people to see…" he had explained to Amber and Juliana all about what had gone on. They knew about him and his time travelling machine.

"Do you really mean to say you're just leaving us?"

The Doctor looked mutedly hopeful, "You could always come too…you did save the world after all. I think you've earned a holiday."

Ruby looked awed, "You're not serious."  
"Well…yea, but…don't feel pressured or anything." he looked faintly embarrassed.

"Really?"

"Really really." he nodded.

She couldn't quite believe her luck. Although she was almost reluctant to leave her family. They'd just been drained by aliens, how did she know they were all perfectly fine now? What would her father say, when he came home from work, to find himself minus a daughter. Her mother, her sisters, her brothers. Did she really want to leave them?

"Ruby Galatea Arduino." Amber's stern voice cut across the silence, "If you don't go with him, I'll never speak to you again. You have to go, for the sake of both of us, after all the work we put in."

Her sister looked delighted, and hugged her, then looked hesitantly over her shoulder, "Mum?"

"Oh, heavens child. You've always wanted to travel. Just get on with it."

Juliana came forward, and gave Ruby a hug and a kiss on the cheek. With that, after just staring at them for a few minutes, she turned around. The Doctor was waiting by the Tardis, with the door open. With a fleeting final glance and wave, Ruby disappeared in to the blue wooden box, shortly followed by the man himself, and Kit popped out of her bag home. Then she suddenly realised something.

"It's bigger on the inside." she blinked.

"You didn't notice?"

"I was preoccupied, funnily enough." she retorted with a pointed look. "Wait…do you have plumbing in here?"

With that, followed by the echoing laugh of the Doctor, and Ruby's utter bemusement, the engines of the Tardis fired up, whisking the two off to their next adventure.


	2. Introducing Mr Hardy

Sincerity

**Introducing Mr Hardy**

Martha was leaning against the wall, fuelled by eagerness. Her long black hair was up in it's usual clip, and she had her much trusted red leather coat over a long dark blue top and jeans. She was waiting for the return of a good friend of hers. It had taken a week or two to get over being cloned and possessed, but now she had, she just wanted to get back out there. Her face lit up, and excitement flowed through her veins at the familiar sound of the TARDIS engines.

"About time." She muttered to herself with a smile.

As the long awaited blue box appeared, a cheekily grinning Doctor leaned against the door, complete with glasses, as he'd just been reading an instructions manual, purely for entertainment value, he was like that. He smiled as Martha hurried over, hugging him and beaming.

"Miss me?" he winked.

"I was having a whale of a time with my parents actually." she said coyly

"Oh, I'll go then."

The Doctor turned to leave, but Martha just gave him a playful punch, ducking under his arm and stepping in to the TARDIS. What she saw wasn't quite what she expected. Everything looked pretty much the same, except there was a girl, a few years younger than herself, sitting on a rail to the side of the control panel, feeding something fuzzy and purple what looked like popcorn. The girl looked up with a start, to find Martha staring at her suspiciously.

"Who's this then, Doctor?"

"This is someone I'd like you to meet."

He motioned for the girl, with the front bits of her hair dyed pink, and wearing a blue bandana, to come over. Nervously, she jumped off the railing, landing neatly, and whatever it was with her flew over and landed on her shoulder. She gave a wary smile at the pair of them, and the Doctor put an arm between her shoulder blades, bringing her closer to Martha, like introducing a new student to a class.

"Martha, meet Ruby. Ruby, this is Martha."

"Hullo." said Ruby shyly.

"Hi. Nice to meet you."

Martha offered her hand, all be it stiffly, which Ruby shook lightly, before clasping her hands behind her back again. The two females turned to the Doctor, hoping he would break the awkward silence that had fallen on them. Martha was annoyed he'd waited a fortnight to present this stranger to her, and Ruby got the distinct feeling that she was going to be a third wheel of sorts.

"She saved the world…er, will save the world, in a couple of years. Saved my life too." He added as a selling point. "Have I said thanks for that by the way?" Ruby nodded, flushing scarlet, and staring at the floor.

"Saving your life seems to be in the job description, pointed out Martha. Who's this?" she nodded towards Kit.

Ruby tried to follow her gaze, but it was rather tricky, as Kit was on her head. She just laughed and looked up, Kit looking at her upside down. To make things a little easier, Kit flew off her head and in to her arms, and Ruby held her up for Martha to see, whilst the Doctor watched to see how they were all getting on.

"This is Kit, my little alien tennis ball." grinned Ruby.

"She's cute." Martha gave a small nod.

Then silence descended again. Down to the Doctor to break it once more. He strode over to the control panel, passed his three companions, and looked on the screen. Automatically, both Ruby and Martha went over with him, standing on either side. Martha leaned over his shoulder, trying to look at what he was seeing.

"Where are we going next?" she asked.

"I was thinking 1981." he grinned at both of them.

"Any particular reason?" queried Ruby.

"Ever heard of a little band called Metallica?" he gave them both a cheeky smile.

"Didn't strike me as your taste." Martha pointed out.

"Try anything once." he shrugged.

Then they set off, another rather bumpy ride. Martha, after the Doctor insisting, took Ruby to the closet where they could pick out outfits that would stop them sticking out like sore thumbs in early 80s L.A. As they left, he sighed, and ran his hand through his hair, looking at Kit, who had stayed behind.

"I really hope they don't kill each other."

Kit clearly didn't really know what he was on about, and just blinked at him. But he reached out, scratching her behind the ears, and she mewed happily. Sometimes it was nice to have a companion that didn't back talk. Or…talk, really. A few moments later, Martha and Ruby re-emerged. They were laughing about something, and both stared at the Doctor, and started giggling again. He felt like someone had brought out the baby pictures or something, and looked at Kit.

"I've always liked you best…" he muttered. Then he turned to the others, "You look lovely ladies, nice job."

Ruby was clearly uncomfortable in her clothes, a black denim mini-skirt, black knee-high boots, and a pale blue gypsy top. She kept trying to pull the skirt down, and was as pink as her hair, which was incidentally pulled back in a butterfly clip, so she had a palm tree of hair falling about for effect. Martha was wearing black leather trousers, black sandals, and a red vest top. For once, her hair was down falling loosely about her shoulders, but she wrestled it in to a bun as the other two spoke.

"Can I please stay in here?" begged Ruby.

"That's not the spirit Ruby Roo." teased the Doctor, "The last few trips didn't seem to bother you."

"Ruby Roo?" she raised an eyebrow, "Maybe so, but I was wearing trousers there. Not a belt." She tried to pull the top down this time.

"I think we should be about there."

"Good, I'm looking forward to your reaction." stated Martha honestly.

With a thud, much like an aeroplane landing, the TARDIS stopped it's journey. Ruby stayed at the back as The Doctor and Martha decided to waltz out. She thought to grab her bag, filling it with some supplies that they might need, also a change of clothes for her own peace of mind. She frowned as she realised outside the door was rather quiet. Cautiously, she opened it a crack, barely enough to be noticeable, but just about right to see by, she gasped and clasped a hand to her mouth.

"This is not 1981…" she whispered to herself. She darted back to the dressing room.

Outside the TARDIS, Martha and the Doctor were very relieved to have her as back up. Because they were surrounded by mounted soldiers, in the ancient red coated uniform and tricorn hats. The Tardis had landed in a small field, leading down to a beck. Martha's stomach was knotting up, but the Doctor, as ever, was perfectly calm.

"Damn Yankees…" growled a chunky looking General as he made his way through the ranks, "What's the hold up this time?"

"Doctor…" whispered Martha, "Where are we?"

"America, I think."

The soldiers who had found them all looked up as the General spoke to him, "Just a couple of people, we thought they looked rather suspicious."

"Suspicious, us?" said the Doctor innocently, "We aren't meaning any harm sir, we just got lost. If you let us go we'll just mosey on away."

"Sir…they sound English." brought up one of the soldiers.

"They may do Jamison, but we're not taking any chances. Seize them."

They did. The Doctor and Martha's arms were grabbed, and the pair of them were unceremoniously dumped on a horse. They were escorted by two further horses either side of them, the riders pointing their rifles at their heads. The horse's hooves thundered off, and when it was quiet again, Ruby came out. At her feet, she saw two things, the key to lock the TARDIS, and the Doctor's screwdriver. Good thinking on his part. She put both things in her bag, and ran off in the soldier's direction.

The other two were made to stop outside a huge army camp, tents everywhere, fires burning to cook food and dry clothes, and torches ready and standing, for when night came. It was like a modern re-enactment, only more real than either of them would have liked. They were marched in to one of the larger ones, presumably someone higher up in the army. As they arrived, Jamison, a fairly young man, with light blonde hair, and blue eyes, called over a little girl, about 8 or 9. She looked at Martha and the Doctor warily from beneath her bonnet.

"Amina, can you go and get these people some…normal…clothes." he said, eyeing them.

Admittedly, they did look rather bizarre in the outfits they were in now. Some of the material hadn't really been invented yet, for a start. The little girl, in a plain brown dress over a white undershirt, had burnt copper curls, and the same eyes as who they presumed was her father. She shrunk back from them, holding on to Jamison's arm. He slowly coaxed her off him, and she ran out, passed the Doctor and Martha, disappearing in to a small tent on the outskirts of the camp. The General from before, Macintyre, gave Jamison the responsibility of looking after their prisoners.

"So, what are your names then?" he asked them, taking off his hat to mop his forehead before replacing it again.

"John Smith." introduced the Doctor, "And this is Martha."

Jamison gave them a general nod, "You're pretty far out of the way, for not being involved in all this. How did you end up here?" he was addressing Martha.

"Uhm…" Martha hesitated, "We just sort of got lost, we were travelling, took a wrong turn or something. Where are we exactly?"

"You don't know? You really are lost. This is Yorktown, Virginia." replied Jamison.

"As in, America?" Martha blinked.

"No, as in India." Jamison rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, Amina reappeared, loaded down by slightly raggedy clothing, she passed it over to Jamison, and gave a short bow, before running away from them again. The pair stared at the clothing they had been given, a simple shirt and breeches for the Doctor, and a dress not unlike Amina's for Martha. Jamison took note of the fact that Martha was in fact, female, he called over a woman, who looked exactly like him, just a different gender. She led her away to get changed, and Martha gave the Doctor a last glance. She had confidence in him, but how were they going to get away with this one? A little while later, the Doctor, rather loath to part with his suit, was dressed in the shirt and trousers. Several people had come in, partly to ask questions, partly to get a glimpse of their latest captive. When it was just him and Jamison again, the Doctor turned to him.

"What are you called then? I can't see Jamison as being a very common Christian name." he said conversationally.

Looking up from cleaning the barrel of his gun, Jamison eyed him, before answering shortly, "Andrew."

"Amina…?"

"My niece. Her father, my brother in law, was killed two weeks ago."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

Jamison froze, wondering how exactly to reply to that. He seemed to want to say something, but was unwilling to do it, and the Doctor didn't know why. He eyed the man curiously, leaning forward, willing him to go on, but Andrew sighed, looking down and lowering his voice.

"I'm supposed to say don't be, it's for the good of the country." His eyes filled with sadness, "But Amina is 8 years old. I can't help but think that if this whole thing is so good for the country, why didn't they bring their secret weapon out sooner."

He promptly stopped talking. That was classified information, he couldn't tell a complete stranger. This John Smith person could easily have been a spy for the Americans. He didn't seem like it, but you weren't to trust anyone, not at the moment. Things had been going so badly for them. Only now was it picking up, thanks to their plan, it was passed plan b. More like plan w.

"I see." The Doctor nodded sympathetically.

The situation was quite different with Martha. The women soon accepted her as one of the fold, simply caught up in this whole nightmare, through no fault of her own. They had been cautious at first, but now they wanted to hear all about the man in Martha's life. The explanation part was quite tricky to get out, the relationship was rather difficult to understand, but she told them what she could. They travelled together, and were very good friends. At that, the women clucked around her happily, cheerful and slightly mischievous, despite their circumstances. They were happy to share all they had, which wasn't much, with everyone, even a complete stranger, who was in theory a prisoner. There was a group of four tents, all open, looking in to each other. They were in the bigger one, facing out over the rest of the camp.

"I hope it's all over soon." sighed the woman from before, Amina's mother, Constance. "I at least want to go home with my brother in one piece."

The others nodded sympathetically. They all knew people who had been lost, brothers, cousins, and husbands. Amina was curled up, fast asleep, on Constance's lap as the other women darned clothes.

"I think it might be." nodded another woman, her sister in law, a dark-eyed, red-haired woman called Annabel, "Have you noticed how quickly they seem to win things now?"

Constance nodded, "Some of the villagers think it's some kind of magic." She turned to Martha, who was instantly alert, "We were doing really badly, heavy losses on our side. Then all of a sudden we win everything without even a scratch."

"How strange." agreed Martha, trying to blend in with them. "It can't really be magic though, can it?" she looked at them.

"Maybe not. But it's a lot of luck to suddenly just fall on them." said Annabel mysteriously, putting on a kind of accent that made the other women laugh.

Back with Andrew, the Doctor found himself being ushered out of the tent by the people who took over guarding him. He was marched towards somewhere near the centre of the camp, and presented with an axe. He stared at it blankly, and then saw the logs heaped to one side, for firewood. Half a dozen other people were at their own stumps, mopping sweat off their foreheads, and slicing the logs in half. They all turned and watched him.

"Fresh meat." whispered one of them to another; he had a clear American accent.

"Start chopping, Smith." Demanded a soldier.

The soldier prodded him with a bayonet, and The Doctor heaved a log on to the stump. He was not used to this. He'd saved the world countless, times, never got a thank you once. Now, he was chopping wood for some snooty-looking soldiers, who stood right behind him. After a while, they drifted off, and the American that had spoken before turned to him.

"I don't remember you. Which company are you from?"

He was a strong, well-built man, probably comparable to a modern day surfer, with unruly curly black hair tied up best he could, but his shirt and trousers were grubby and patched.

"Um, none." replied the Doctor.

"My god. The Brits have lost it. They've got one of their own here. Whatcha do? Give away a location? Slip up? Share information you shouldn't?"

"Nothing." The Doctor replied, shrugging, "Just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Tough luck." The man replied, meaning it, "I'm Marcus Stratton. You?"

"John Smith."

Marcus held out a hand, and shook the Doctor's, "Welcome to hell Johnny."

A passing guard shouted at them, and after a few hissed curses and gestures behind his back, the men got on with their work. They fell in to a sort of rhythm, lift, chop, thud, lift. But each time a soldier or family member of one of them came by, the Doctor paid attention to what they were saying, seeing if he could work out what this secret weapon was. It was clearly effective. The history books said that this was the losing side. But clearly, they had an edge at the moment. Another two soldiers went passed. One looked incredibly young, and seemed to be being shown around by an older gentleman, with steel grey hair and pale blue eyes. He had a blue cloth bag hanging at his side. Along with the others, he glanced up. The young soldier suddenly folded his arms. The uniform was far too big for him, and the Doctor was sure he'd seen a flash of purple hiding in the pocket. He grinned, and then looked down, going back to work.

"How long have those prisoners been here?" the young soldier asked the older one. He had to look up to address him; he was more than a head shorter.

"Between six months and, well, the one in the middle was caught today." replied the man, Killian.

"But, where did he come from? You haven't fought for the last few days, have you?" he asked, curious.

Killian, that was his last name, couldn't help but like this inquisitive young boy. He seemed suspicious and alert, great potential there. He wondered how long he'd last. "He was wandering about with his lady friend." Killian shrugged, "We couldn't risk him being a spy for the Yankees, so brought him in." he peered at his young charge. "What did you say your name was lad?"

"Hardy." replied the boy,

"I like it. Come along. Better introduce you to the girls."

As soon as they left, Marcus leaned on his axe, looking at the Doctor. He'd seen the interaction between him and the young soldier, despite it being discreet. Naturally, he was curious, as were his fellow choppers.

"Lucky you Johnny." He said with a slight smile, "Looks like you've got friends in high places. I saw the way that Killian looked at your friend there. Won't be long before he's promoted."

The Doctor shrugged, and then all of them got back to work. Amina slipped out with a wooden bucket of water. She was tiny, but managed it quite well. She brought it over to the men, Jamison always asked her to be subtle about it. He was one of the ones that did genuinely care for people's well being, but it was never shown. She curtsied swiftly to them, much to their amazement, and hot footed it away before she was seen. When she rejoined her mother and aunt, she froze. There was a soldier there, the young Hardy.

"Amina, sweetheart…" said Constance hesitantly. "This is Officer Hardy." Amina cowered under her mother's arm, convinced she was going to get beaten for helping the 'slaves'. So was her mother. "He's new here. Killian dropped him off, but he was called away."

Amina hid behind her mother, who put a protective arm around her daughter. All the women were wary of having an officer in the tent. It was like they were being assessed or something. However, Hardy gently knelt down to the girl's level, and he smiled at her. The girl was startled.

"Was it you who gave those men a drink?" he asked kindly.

Amina shrunk back. Was he trying to trick her in to admitting it? She rapidly shook her head, "No sir, honest."

"Really?" Hardy pressed, "Because one of them said to say thank you. The tall one, skinny?"

"Mr Smith?" suddenly realised Annabel.

"That's the one." Hardy nodded.

"The girl with him was here until a few minutes ago, she went to get water though."

Suddenly, something started fluttering in his jacket. He folded his arms over it, and it stopped. All the women stared at him in disbelief, edging forward curiously, although some of them seemed to think it was a trap. It started again, and he had to cover it again, and he looked so embarrassed, but in a friendly way, that the women laughed.

"Must have been those oats I ate." Hardy winked, and the ladies giggled.

Killian came back a couple of minutes after. The atmosphere was still light hearted, but it dropped a few degrees when he poked his head in. He looked around, and saw Hardy sitting in the middle of the women, with Amina smiling on his knee. Killian had never seen the child smile, not since the family joined the camp.

"My Hardy. You've done well to charm your way to these ladies' hearts so quickly."

"I'm honoured to have been accepted by them sir. They're very charming themselves." He answered.

The ladies laughed slightly again, blushing at his compliments. It had been so nice to have a young lad like Hardy around them, he wasn't all business, a person they genuinely liked being around. A boy, so much wiser than his years. Killian was almost envious; the women never accepted any of them before, it had taken forever.

"Well, I had to interrupt young sir, but the General wishes to see you. You know where to go?" Hardy nodded, "Then I shall see you shortly." he disappeared again.

Hardy stood up, letting Amina go down, although she clung on to him. "Don't go, please Mr Hardy!" she pleaded.

Constance looked embarrassed on her daughter's behalf. She whispered to Hardy, "I'm so sorry sir. She misses her father terribly."

"No need to apologise ma'm. May I talk to her for a moment?" he asked.

"Of course sir. Go along Amina."

Hardy went around to the back of the tent, in the cover of the trees, and Amina followed him, looking after him quizzically. She covered her mouth to hide a smile as his jacket started fluttering again. This time, he let it, and a fluffy purple head poked out, looking up at an awestruck little girl.

"This is my friend." Hardy said in a whisper, "Her name is Kit."

"Is she a fairy?" queried Amina.

"Of sorts. Listen though Amina, if the men around here catch me with her, they won't let me keep her any more."

"But that's so sad!" protested Amina,

"That's why I'd like you to look after her for today, if you would? It can be just our little secret?"

Amina's face lit up, and she nodded. Hardy, after a last hug for Kit, most peculiar behaviour for a young gentlemen, but Amina liked it, carefully passed Kit over. Kit mewled, and Hardy scratched her behind the ears to calm her down.

"If you need any help with her, ask Miss Jones. She'll know what to do. But other than that, she has to be a secret, or they'll take her away from me."

"I'll take good care of her Mr Hardy!" assured the girl.

"I know you will Miss Moore." Hardy winked at her.

He ducked in to the tent again; Kit concealed in Amina's apron, and took his hat off to the ladies, before disappearing again to catch up with his mentor. Just moments after that, Martha came back with another woman, bearing a bucket of water. The others immediately descended on them to tell them all about their visit.

"There's hope for us yet Martha!" exclaimed Constance, beaming, "We just met the most wonderful young man. He's already concerned about that Mr Smith of yours."

"He had such a pretty face, for a boy." voiced Annabel.

"Ooh er Annie." grinned Constance, "I think he's a little young for you."

'Hardy' strolled along down the path Killian had gone, he stopped briefly for a moment, making sure nobody was around. It was rather warm, and as he took off his hat, two strands of bright pink fell out. She quickly wiped her forehead, and reseated the hat, covering the pink. The Doctor's wardrobe had all sort of surprises. It was the only way she'd managed to fit in without standing out, grabbing the old style army uniform and pretending to be male. It worried her how effective she seemed to be, and she laughed slightly in amusement. Back to being Hardy, Ruby caught up with Killian outside the General's cabin. The older man turned to her, and gave a short nod, meaning for her to go in. Wide-eyed, she stared at him. Wasn't he coming in? No, evidently not. Apparently, the General was quickly impressed with her as well, because only a handful of the very senior officer had been invited to see him.

"Go on in lad, and good luck." Killian offered a small smile.

Ruby hesitantly stepped forward. Unbeknownst to her, The Doctor had slipped out of his chores, Marcus had agreed to cover for him, on the promise that if he got away, he would take them all with him, and they would go somewhere on their own terms, away from the war. He was there to accompany her discreetly, so she could report back to him. Ruby knocked on the door, and it was opened by a lanky young man with a cold face, who stared accusingly at her for daring to compete with him regarding General Macintyre's favours.

"Lewis. I don't need you to stand by me like a puppy. Go and make yourself useful." He ordered.

"Yes, sir." Lewis gritted his teeth.

As he left, Ruby's stomach filled with icy dread. This whole situation had an edge of caution about it. Had she been discovered? She had no idea how that would happen, she hadn't been there long. On a similar line, she wondered why on earth he would want to see her in person after just a few hours. Macintyre noted her muted urgency, and pointed to a chair on which she could be seated.

"Don't look so scared Hardy; it's unbefitting for a soldier of his majesty's forces." He growled. "You only arrived here today, am I right?" Deciding to be honest, she nodded. "With another shipment of troops. They were sent to another camp, why are you here?"

"I was sent as a messenger." she quickly lied, "So I could pass on what you expected to the others. They got tied up, else would have seen you in person…sir."

Macintyre didn't really believe her, but to be honest, he didn't care. Killian had pointed out something to him regarding the boy. Their current battle strategies were wavering. They were not sure how to approach their back up. It had taken weeks to train up just one soldier to a respectable level. It had taken longer to gain the loyalty and obedience of the other soldiers and their families, which Macintyre personally saw as on the same level. However, this child, so young he did not even seem to be a man, had tamed two thirds of the military population in the area, in a matter of hours. He was quite frankly seen as a threat. How long would it be before he had his own ideas and took the troops down his own path? So he wanted to keep the child busy.

"Come with me Hardy."

Ruby immediately stood up, just before Macintyre did, might as well be respectful. The General seemed to approve, and the two left out of the back door. A slight rustling of leaves, a bird to Macintyre, although she knew otherwise, was the only sound made as they started walking down a dirt track. Ruby started getting anxious as they went further and further away from the sounds and smells of base camp. They were going down through the middle of a solid cluster of trees, like some kind of corridor.

"I don't see it myself boy, but Killian seems to believe there's something special about you. He thinks we're lucky to have gotten you for some reason." He looked him up and down, "Personally, you seem more like a girl than anything to me, but I trust Killian, so I suppose I must take his word."

"That's…nice of him. But sir…where are you taking me? Why?" Ruby hesitantly asked.

She casually stretched her arm out, like her shoulder ached or something. Macintyre didn't even notice. He was still blathering on about loyalty and trust, serving the crown, and restoring order. She could see no links at all between the various rants he kept going off on. Eventually, he held an arm out to stop her, and she just narrowly avoided clunking her head on it., ducking back. The Doctor had been following them the whole way, silently stepping through the trees like only he could. Ruby had managed to pass him his screwdriver, through the branches, without Macintyre batting an eye lid. Now however, the General was all ears, and eyes, perfectly still and tensed. There was an almighty shrieking squawk, which made Ruby jump out of her skin. The path started getting wider. Then each line of trees, although still dense, spread out in a circle, so it was like they were in an arena. She looked around for the Doctor, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"What…is this?" she breathed

All around her she could see huge wooden stands, like the ones the hawks landed on in the bird shows she had been to. Iron rings and ropes were attached to them. The grass was patchy, worn away by movement, leaving patches of dry soil. Either side of the main ring were huge aviary like cages. But it wasn't birds in them.

"This is our special combat zone." replied Macintyre, both smug and proud.

"What are they?!"

"No idea."

Macintyre lead her to one of the cages. A few men, Native Americans it seemed, watched then warily, especially focusing on Ruby. She peered in to one of the compartments and gasped, shrinking back. Staring at her had been what looked like a pterodactyl, only smaller, their torsos roughly equivalent to a normal horse's, with a more lizard-like head, and a single huge horn protruding from it. There were five in total. Macintyre tapped the wire on one of them, but the things didn't move. Ruby turned to him for an explanation, and he grabbed something from his pocket. It was by all intents and purposes, an ocarina. It was dark blue, tear-drop shaped, the mouth piece towards the top end, on the right from a front view. Four holes one side, three the other. It had strange patterns and symbols all around it in silver. She couldn't quite work out what it was made of though. It seemed clay, but had the texture of metal.

"Why do you have a Chinese instrument in your pocket…sir?"

He didn't answer, instead deciding to demonstrate. He cleared his throat, and covered all the holes, before blowing in to it. The creatures suddenly wailed and lunged forward, hitting the wire. The longer he held the note, the more agitated they became, and he seemed to enjoy it.

"OK, I get it!" cried Ruby lamely.

Macintyre shrugged and threw it over to her. The creatures seemed to gasp as it flew through the air, craning forward and rattling their chains. The girl clumsily managed to catch it, taking care not to crush it. The General didn't seem to care less.

"We play that, they destroy our opponents, and they have no memory of it at all. You're a very suspicious character boy. You can stay here and experiment. You get those monsters to work to our terms, and we won't arrest you. Good day, Mr Hardy."

That was that then. The carers all looked at her sympathetically as Macintyre waltzed off again; leaving this lost boy with a musical instrument that controlled creatures he had no hope of understanding. Add that to the fact that he was actually female, from two hundred years or so in the future, trying to find a way to help get herself, another girl from the future, but her past, and an alien back to their home space ship, and things were slightly less than easy. As soon as Macintyre had gone, Ruby looked around for the Doctor as the carers disappeared themselves.

"Um, Doctor…are you here…somewhere?"

She turned with a start as he suddenly popped up from behind a crate on wheels, which smelled like it contained the thing's dinner. Ruby couldn't help it, and she started snickering, then laughing out right, as she saw the Doctor's clothes. They were too short for him, but too baggy for his incredibly slim frame.

"Well may you laugh, but bear in mind, I'm not the cross dresser here…sir." The Doctor pointed out.

"Ah, give me a break. What would help me more in this situation, a mini skirt, or this stiff, itchy, boiling hot uniform?" she paused, "On second thoughts, I'd rather have the skirt. Now, down to business. What are these, and what is this?" she held up the ocarina.

The Doctor took the instrument from her, holding it carefully in his hand as he switched settings on his sonic screwdriver to scan it. He frowned, it was definitely just your average ocarina, but there was some kind of extra technology integrated in to it, and he didn't understand the symbols engraved either. He handed it back and walked over to look at the creatures, and they regarded him with wise, weary dark eyes. As soon as he saw them the penny dropped.

"**Endriago! They're Endriago!" he exclaimed.**

**"Dragons?" Ruby raised an eyebrow, recognising the Spanish.**

**"Well, your human word means that." The Doctor agreed.**** "But no, the Endriago are a race of aliens. Old, really old. They're usually benevolent, and they keep to themselves."**

**"So…what's brought them here?" asked Ruby.**

**"That's what I'd like to know."**

**Ruby kept a good distance away from them, at the very least making sure to be slightly behind the Doctor as he studied them. Following her common sense, she didn't want to get too close, considering how they had acted when Macintyre was around. Then again, Macintyre was not exactly the nicest of people to be around. The Doctor looked at them, trying to talk to them.**

**"How did you, end up here?" he pondered out loud, "Why do you fight for that man?"**

**The creatures all cried out in unison, but it was nothing that was understandable. ****They were desperately trying to urge this man to free them, but he had no idea what they were communicating. One of them flew up closer to The Doctor, and Ruby instantly shrunk back, and then froze.**

**"_We try to explain…but you cannot hear us..."_******

**It was a disembodied voice, and she had no idea where it came from, although she suddenly realised that the Endriago was addressing them. Her friend still looked puzzled, maybe he hadn't heard them, and she shrugged, turning to the creature.**

**"Sorry, what was that? I don't think my friend quite got that." She said earnestly.**

**"Get what? What didn't I get?" queried a bemused Doctor.**

**"You deaf or something? He…er, I think it's a he." She looked to the creature for insurance, and he nodded, "Was talking to you."**

**"I think you've been in that uniform too long. You're hearing things."**

**"_He does not und_****_erstand us. Why does this child?" _****he seemed to have forgotten she was standing right there.**

**"_His mind is not open. He is preoccupied with the puzzle, not the solution."_**** came another voice, female.**

**"Oh, come on!" Ruby was getting irked now, "How can you not hear that?"**

**The Doctor turned to her and frowned, "I think the question ****is how ****_can_**** you?" **

**Much to her annoyance, she found the sonic screwdriver suddenly in her face, and it was her turn to be scanned. She frowned, folding her arms. Slowly, a smile crept to the Doctor's face. The girl stared at him for some sort of explanation, impatient. Here were these imprisoned creatures, and he seemed to be completely oblivious to them.**

**"I do believe, Miss Arduino, your friend Kit hasn't quite finished with you." He replied with a grin.**

**"What?"**

**"Telepathy!" exclaimed The Doctor in explanation, "You can hear their thoughts."**

**"And you can't?" she raised an eyebrow.**** "Come on, give me a break."**

**All of a sudden, the man grabbed her hand, and then turned to the Endriago, ****meaning for him to repeat what he had said. If his suspicions were correct, and they usually were, he was happy to add, he might be able to use Ruby as a kind of circuit. That was, of course, if she let him. The girl eyed him curiously, and then caught on. **

**"_We came here by accident. _****_The Time War sent us spiralling off course. We have been travelling for years, and landed here."_**

**"Why didn't you try and escape?" ****asked the Doctor obviously.**

**"_We had nowhere to go back to."_**** came the reply.**

"Even so…couldn't you find somewhere else? I'm sure there are much comfier rooms than these around."

"_Before we had time to do __anything that man caught up with us. We were lost, and tired."_

"And he took advantage of that." The Doctor frowned.

"Why haven't you left this place yet? Surely you can't want to stick around in these cages." added Ruby.

"_We have no choice.__ That man has bewitched us."_

Ruby looked across at the Doctor, puzzled and worried at the same time, but his focus didn't shift from the creatures in front of them. The expression on his face was almost frightening, and a chill breeze gave it extra edge, sending shivers down the girl's spine. She wished Martha was there, she was more used to him. Inwardly she wanted to shrink back and move away, but he still gripped her hand.

"How, how has he bewitched you?" questioned the Doctor.

"_He stole something precious to us. __It absorbed his wishes, and it is such that we are forced to fulfil them."_

"This?" Ruby held up the instrument.

"_It is of our people. We must follow its orders."_

"But they've been corrupted…so you're stuck, doing the same thing, working for that man?" pressed the Doctor.

"Surely you can, un-hex it, or whatever?"

"_We cannot. We do not know how to break the spell, once it is cast."_

They were interrupted by the sound of something rushing through the trees towards the arena. It was Martha, running hell for leather towards them, hitching her skirt up above her ankles so it was easier to move. They both turned around in surprise, and Ruby quickly snatched her hand away from him. It was unnerving, to hear a whole conversation, that had no sound.

"Doctor! Doctor!" cried Martha.

"What is it?!"

The woman was panting, and had to lean over when she reached them to grab her breath, Ruby automatically offered an arm to help her stay upright, and without blinking, Martha took it. Her expression was that of urgency, she looked frantic. It was then that Kit flew out of her apron, and sped straight for her mistress.

"An attack! They found the camp!" she said urgently, "It's manic. Killian said that I was to fetch a Mr Hardy, and tell him to bring the back up." She turned to Ruby, "I'm assuming that's you."

The carers of the creatures suddenly reappeared, and it was all stations go as the animals were let out. They were able to stretch and move around, and it was clear to see how beautiful they were in their own way, as they flexed their wings. They screeched and soared off in to the sky. Martha automatically ducked, as they hovered in the air above their heads.

"Flute girl! Flute girl!" called one of the Native Americans, "Take them, flute girl!"

"How do they know you're female?" asked Martha.

Ruby shrugged, nobody else had worked that out. Save the creatures. Then again, she had been talking to them. She was startled as the guardians of the creatures started shouting something at her, she couldn't understand what they were going on about it.

"Three four three!" cried one,

"Go girl go!" shouted another.

She didn't need telling twice. Neither did any of them. They were soon sprinting back the way they had came, towards the camp. As they got nearer they could smell smoke, and hear shouts, a roar of noise. They froze as they came close to the camp. Tents and cabins were alight, women were ushering children, calling to them and choking on the smoke. The Endriago were above them in a flash, hovering around the camp and stirring up the smoke with their wing beats.

"Martha!" called Constance through a dusty haze, "Martha! Are you alright?"

"Mr Hardy!" chipped in a terrified little girl's voice.

Amina flung herself at Ruby, and clung to her. The women that Martha had been with, plus many other she had not met were all coming towards them. Despite the chaos and fighting, which was across on the far end of the camp, they were worried about the safety of each other. They held aprons and bonnets up to their mouths to stop the smoke getting them.

"Martha, Ruby, take those people to safety." ordered the Doctor, holding his hand out for the ocarina, which Ruby gave him.

"Ruby?" Constance's eyes widened.

"Hi, yea, that'd be me." explained Ruby sheepishly, "Long story. We should take his advice, and go."

"But, what are those things?!" cried Annabel. "Why are they following you?"

The women seemed reluctant to follow this girl posing as a man, with a strange flying creature with her. She didn't blame them, and she sighed. She took off her hat, letting her hair down, and they all gasped. She held her hand out to them.

"Trust me."

None of them moved. But then a shout and cannon fire echoed around the whole camp. Amina reached out and grabbed Ruby's hand, and they ran. Martha urged the others to follow, taking her place at the back. She called her good luck and take care to The Doctor as they disappeared. He watched them go, and seemed to fall in to thought for a moment, but another shout soon woke him up, and he ran towards the battle ground, with the Endriago.

"Where's Hardy?!" came a familiar voice, as Killian came to the Doctor, supporting a wounded soldier, Jamison.

"Amina and Constance…" came Andrew's weak voice, "Are they ok?"

"Hardy is taking the families to safety." replied the Doctor.

Jamison smiled weakly, "I thought she might."

"Come on Jamison, we need to get you seen to."

They carried on their way, and the Doctor stopped on the edge of the massive battle that was going on, amazed to see that the uniforms were near identical, just different colours. He realised he couldn't speak to the Endriago without Ruby around, so just looked up at them.

"I'm sorry."

Then he took the ocarina, covering all the holes, like Macintyre had done. He blew sharply in to it, and the creatures cawed furiously, and in a flash they descended in to the fight, cutting and slashing, knocking people and weapons aside. They were practically insane, and The Doctor was controlling it. He turned and saw two people carrying a third away, it was Marcus, held up by two of the other wood cutters. He looked up, staring at the Doctor.

"I thought you'd come back Johnny."

Marcus stumbled and fell, and The Doctor went over to help, but his attention was drawn by one of the creatures screeching, and a man screaming as he was thrown through the air, courtesy of one of the Endriago's horns. Turning back to the three men, he saw Marcus staring at the same thing he had been, before falling unconscious, and slumping in his friend's arms.

"Marcus…?" ventured the Doctor.

One of the men looked up at him, "He won't make it through tonight."

"I see…" said the Doctor slowly.

"We should make him comfortable." said the other man.

They nodded in agreement, and the Doctor stepped aside, letting them carry on. He watched their retreating backs, saying a silent goodbye to Marcus Stratton in his head.

Martha and Ruby had led the women and children to an abandoned log cabin in the woods the opposite side of camp, hidden by the trees, and presumably used by a hunter of sorts formerly. All of them practically fell together in a heap, exhausted from their hysterics, but the two young women stayed upright, desperately looking out of the window. Both of them knew what the other was thinking, because they were thinking the same thing. They were worried about the Doctor.

"Go to him." said a small voice, Amina, "We'll be ok." She was speaking very quietly, but everyone was listening intently to her, "Go to him, and tell the soldiers…that they should be honest. The outcome of this shouldn't be dictated by magic."

Constance and Annabel nodded in agreement with them. All of them urged them on. Ruby and Martha looked at them gratefully, then turned to each other, and ran out of the door. Ruby had left her hat behind, and it was sitting on a small wooden stool. As the group watched the two disappear back the way they had come, Amina picked it up, clinging to it.

"Do you always run a lot, when you travel with him?" Ruby questioned as they sprinted back to camp.

"Yes." Martha smiled. "It's in the job description."

They arrived back at the scene, and were horrified. The men didn't seem to be fighting each other any more. Instead, all of them were running and hiding, ducking for cover, and trying to avoid the Endriago. The Doctor was holding up his sonic screwdriver, trying to intercept the effect of the note from the ocarina on them, but it didn't seem to be working. He had tried looking for Macintyre to ask him, but he was long dead. The army had already been taken over by a man called Lord Cornwallis, from the faction 'Mr Hardy' had originally been assigned to.

"Doctor! I think they're done now, stop them!" cried Ruby.

"I can't." answered the man, with an edge of annoyance at his own failure.

"Talk to them!" she suggested desperately,

"We've tried that, remember?"

Ruby ran up to join him, and grabbed his arm, looking up at the aliens above them. Martha had no clue what was going on, although she stood by them, and they all moved aside as one of the dragons came too close for comfort.

"Hey!" called the pink-haired girl, "Hey! Can you hear me?!"

"_Yes…" _came the muted response.

"Stop! You can stop now!"

"_No, we can't…it's like we have been possessed…we don't know how to break it…"_

"Who are you talking to?" demanded Martha.

Without warning, Ruby used her spare hand to take hold of Martha's wrist, so both of them could hear what the aliens were saying. They kept looking at her, like they were trying to pull away, but they couldn't. She grabbed the instrument from the Doctor's hand.

"_Break the pattern…please, you can do it somehow."_

Martha was alarmed. So that's who she was talking to. The girl suddenly recalled the advice she had been given when they had been coming up from the arena. She let go of her comrade's arms, and instead held up the ocarina. She studied it, and then covered the three holes, and blew softly in to it. She jumped as it sounded a hell of a lot louder than she was expecting. Something seemed to whip passed them in the air. Then she opened those three holes, and closed the four, blowing in to it again. The Endriago seemed to be slowing down in the air. She repeated the first note again, and all three were knocked backwards by the force of the energy that suddenly erupted from them, invisible, but powerful, whatever had bound them had snapped. They landed in a heap on the floor, Kit hovering above them. Ruby landed on her back, and the ocarina flew out of her hands. She scrambled up, reaching to grab it, when The Doctor beat her to it.

"_Thank you…thank you."_

A hush fell over the whole grounds. The leading Endriago dove down, aiming straight for a worried Ruby, and another two were aiming for Martha and the Doctor. They scrabbled away, only to suddenly find themselves knocked on to the back of the pterodactyl/dragon/unicorn hybrid type creatures. Without much warning, they stared at the ground as it disappeared from beneath their feet. All the soldiers down below looked up in awe and a murmur spread from one side to the other. Martha remembered what Amina had said, and looked around for the man in the General's uniform. When she focused on him, she flew on the spot just above his head.

"Cornwallis, I presume?" she asked. He nodded. "Take some advice."

"And give it up." finished Ruby.

"these creatures are not your slaves to control." added the Doctor.

The General just stared at them dumbly, as did the surrounding men. Then they soared high in to the air, and Ruby laughed at something. The Doctor and Martha looked at her strangely, and she just shook her head, with a small smile. She leaned down, and whispered in to the ear of her transport. He nodded, and the other two wondered what she had said as they left the camp behind. They flew over a valley and woods, over the rest of Yorktown, and their destination became clear. This time, they enjoyed the brook and the scenery, as they went towards the TARDIS. The Endriago nodded, and their riders thanked them, as they slid down to the ground. Ruby took the cause of all this trouble out of her pocket, and offered it to their new friends.

"Here. This is yours."

"_Please keep it." _replied the leader, _"We have no other way of thanking you, this is the least we can do._"

Martha and the Doctor were alarmed that they could hear the animals speaking now, even if it was inside their heads. They didn't have to hold on to Ruby to get their messages across. An effect of the spell, most likely. But why hadn't it bothered her?

"You already said how important it is to you." protested Ruby.

"_Which is why we decided you should keep it. It is much safer in the hands of a person who has no selfish wishes._"

"Thank you…" Ruby faltered, "What was your name?"

"_Rutilus._"

"Can I ask you something, Rutilus?" ventured the Doctor.

"_Certainly_."

"Before…why couldn't we hear you? Except through Ruby?"

The world-weary animal stared at the Doctor in such a way that he felt completely see through. It was unnerving. It was usually him who had that effect on people. He felt totally exposed, although kept up his cool demeanour in front of his companions.

"_That is, perhaps…something you would rather learn in private, Doctor._" Rutilus answered. The Doctor nodded, understanding, "_We must go, under the cover of night, we can find a safer place to recover._ _We thank you with all our souls, and if we can ever repay our debt, please, call us._"

"Thank you again, Rutilus." smiled Ruby,

"Take care of yourselves." Martha continued.

The five Endriago nodded, and spread out their wings, in a kind of bow to their three rescuers. Then they turned, and flew away. They watched them go into the fading sunset, and then the three, weariness catching up with them, returned to their own current home. Once inside the TARDIS, Ruby smiled, carefully looking at the ocarina, before putting it in the side pocket of her bag.

"Well. That was certainly not what I expected from Metallica." voiced Martha.

"True that." agreed the Doctor, "But on the bright side, we just made history."

"You do that often then?" Ruby laughed.

"Oh yes."

"Oh! Here."

The girl rummaged through her ever faithful bag, and Kit sat on her shoulder, peering down in to it herself. Out of it she pulled a neatly folded pile of material, Martha and the Doctor's clothes. Martha was elated, immediately disappearing to change. The other two laughed as she left, and The Doctor started up the Tardis. A sudden jolt caused Ruby to trip and fall, and The Doctor caught her. There was a silent, motionless kind of electric shock. Neither of them made out they had felt it, until Ruby suddenly pulled away from the Doctor, who looked like he'd just had something stolen. They stared at each other, Ruby looked frightened of him.

"I, uh, I'm gonna, change…" she stuttered, and abruptly left.

The Doctor stared, dumbstruck after her. What the heck was that? He wandered to his own wardrobe, more than happy to get rid of the itchy clothing that he had been wearing the whole day. He faced the mirror to straighten his tie, and looked up with a start as he heard a familiar voice.

"_In answer to your question Doctor. An open mind can accept more things even than one that has seen so much there is little it does not know. A mind can become so crowded, that nothing new can be accepted in to it. However, equally problematic, an open mind, may accidentally gain more knowledge than it wants._"

With that, Rutilus was gone. The Doctor was taken aback, for once, it was not the answer that he expected, which rather proved the point. He stared at his hand, the one that he had caught his newest traveller with. There was more to her than he realised. He clenched his fist, holding it like that for a moment, before dropping his arm to his side, and closing the wardrobe, as he walked back to the control room.


	3. Wolfsbane

Wolf's bane

Wolf's bane

It was a bright, warm day. The pale lilac sky and golden/green grass gave it a kind of perpetual sunset image. Children were playing in the park near the woods, under the watchful eyes of their parents. It was the perfect day for a picnic, and many families had the same idea. They traipsed out of their 5 star, reasonably priced hotels. It was a built up area, but everything was clean. No smoke or fumes, no traffic, except the trams moving down the cobbled streets. The park was surrounded by four hotels, but the people who knew this place well, always snuck through the woods, to a fifth. It seemed more like a villa than anything, and there was a large marble fountain sprouting crystal clear water, surrounded by a quadrant of sandstone, surrounded by grass. It wasn't too big, about just the size of a normal reasonably sized house garden than a park. But it was beautiful. Only about eight people ever stayed in it at once. Back where the families with children were, a small boy stopped on the edge of the wood.

"What is it Aaron?" called his father.

"I thought I heard someone…"

Then there was a howl, and Aaron disappeared from sight, right in front of everyone in the park.

"Oh, that one's easy." came the Doctor's voice, "It's a storm, obviously."

"You know, you're scarily good at Anglo-Saxon riddles." commented Ruby, putting the book back in her bag.

"Naturally, I invented a few of them." he shrugged.

The three friends were sitting in the control room of the Tardis again. Ruby was sitting on the steps with Kit on her lap as the machine choked along, Martha leaned against the railings, and the Doctor kept an eye on the console. They were used to the rocky ride that the ship provided by now. The book had been picked up from their last adventure, archaeological dig turned ghost hunt. It was surprisingly warm in there at the moment. The Doctor had neither his coat nor his jacket on, and had loosened his tie. Martha wore a dark purple vest top and black three-quarter length trousers, with sandals. Ruby was in a spaghetti-strap striped blue t-shirt, cropped jeans, and her usual black sneakers, not dissimilar to the Doctor's red ones. Today she was wearing a dark purple bandana.

"Blimey it's hot in here." sighed Martha.

"Don't you have air-conditioning?" complained Ruby.

"Normally, yes, but I'm afraid it's broken." apologised the Doctor. "But hey, I'm sure you'll forgive me when you see where we're going." he grinned.

"Oh yea, where's that then?" Martha folded her arms.

"Wait and see."

Martha groaned in annoyance, and marched off to the other side of the Tardis to stand in front of the fan. The Doctor looked at her amusedly, and Ruby just laughed softly, playing some kind of game with Kit, she would wiggle her finger in a pattern, and Kit would dance around it, trying to catch it. She seemed to be getting more cat like every day, but she still had the fox's tail and the wings, which put pay to that theory.

"Hey Ruby, can you grab that switch for me?" asked the Doctor, pointing vaguely to the left of him.

Ruby followed his line of vision, and raised an eyebrow. He happened to be pointing at a section of the many levered and buttoned control panel where there were at least half a dozen switches. She stood up, timidly looking at all of them, trying to work out what he meant.

"Which one?" she ventured.

"Second from left, top row. It's green." he explained

Right. That was sort of clearer. She turned and caught sight of the afore mentioned switch, that looked rather like a joy pad from the ancient gaming systems. She watched the Doctor as he held one hand on something like a cog he was winding up, the other was pressed down on a huge button, and his knee was leaning on a kind of spring like thing to keep it down. She shrugged, and as he nodded, she pushed the joy stick up.

"Don't whatever you do, let go of it." said the Doctor sternly.

"I won't…"

Kit, realising that her usual play mate was tied up, flew over to Martha, and kept nuzzling her hand, trying to get her to play the game she had just been playing with Ruby. Martha smiled slightly, soon losing her bad mood. The Vegrandis chased her hand, and she laughed, enjoying it herself.

"Hold on tight ladies." warned the Doctor.

Martha scooped Kit up, and grabbed the pillar next to her, Ruby stayed permanently attached to the lever, squaring her feet so she was grounded and wouldn't fall. The Doctor let go of the cog, and the Tardis suddenly sunk down, like they were in a log flume or something. They all rocked to one side, clasping whatever they could to stop falling, and with a spin and a bump, the Tardis landed.

"You ever thought of putting brakes on this thing?" wondered Martha aloud.

"Nah, where's the fun in that? Come on!"

The Doctor strode out of the Tardis, and the others followed him, wondering what to expect, but glad to be out of that sauna. Who would have thought you could get heat waves in a space ship? Ruby slipped her bag over her shoulder, and Martha tied a jacket around her waist as the Doctor restored his tie and jacket. The three of them, Kit on Martha's shoulder, stood blinking as sunlight filtered through the trees above them. Martha and Ruby both gasped, it was so beautiful. The Doctor took their stunned silence as a victory; usually neither of them hesitated to make some kind of comment on their location. He led them through the trees, to a park full of golden green grass, with little purple flowers scattered around like daisies. The sky was as lilac as the flowers, but a stronger tone.

"It's beautiful!" breathed Martha.

"Where are we?" asked Ruby.

"Thought you might like it. Martha Jones, Ruby Arduino, welcome to Violeta."

Ruby clung happily to Kit, who mewled in excitement, and Martha looked every which way as they strode along a little path in the park. Beautiful crystal and pastel coloured hotels surrounded them. They looked more like pieces of art than a holiday maker's destination. There were a few people scattered around, who looked at them curiously, usually with bright smiles and waves. The Doctor smugly kept his hands in his pockets, nodding the occasional hello to passers by.

"This is one of Earth's colony planets. Light years away. They came across in about the year four billion to find a better life. Even started at the year zero again. They picked up various other species on the way, taking pity on them and bringing them too." explained the Doctor.

"A modern day Noah's Ark." grinned Martha.

"I suppose." The Doctor agreed, "Much more air tight though. Human kindness at its best."

Martha smiled, "There's hope for us yet, eh Ruby?"

Ruby nodded, and a passing merchant, who looked rather like a cross between a fox and a human, bowed at her daintily, and handed her a bright magenta sunflower. He turned to Martha, holding up one for her as well, a warm rusty orange.

"Two lovely flowers, for two lovely flowers." He winked and departed before they could pay him.

"I could get used to this…" Martha smiled at her flower, putting it in her hair for safe keeping.

"Lovely." quipped the Doctor.

Ruby carefully pinned hers to the strap of her bag, and Kit sniffed it, and then sneezed. As they walked passed the hotels, they came to what looked like a main street. There was a smattering of stands selling food, ice creams and souvenirs. The normal high street shops, or rather, their equivalents, were lined up next to each other. The store owners chatted animatedly outside the doors, enjoying the sunshine. You didn't see that often in Regent Street.

"It's so…" Martha was struggling to find the word.

"Clean." provided Ruby.

"Oh yes." The Doctor grinned, "The Violettans have found an efficient way to power everything using solar energy. Cleanest planet in the galaxy this."

"Makes a change from London." pointed out Martha.

"And Plymouth." agreed Ruby.

"I'm glad you brought that up." The Doctor grinned. "I wanted to show you something."

Curious, the pair of them were led over a slight hill, towards what seemed to be a sea. It was beautifully clear, and standing on the white sanded beach before it, was an almost exact replica of a 17th century ship. Only it was made of metal, and instead of sails, the masts were holding up what looked like some kind of bubble, a roof over the ship, completely sealing it. It looked rather familiar to both Martha and Ruby. They stepped to the side as a group of small children ran up to it, followed by two people who seemed to be their school teachers.

"Is…that what I think it is?" ventured Ruby.

"Probably. I'd like to introduce you to the _Mayflower_. Mark….497…I think. It carried the colony over from your Earth. Quite the tourist attraction."

There was no chance they were going to get any closer. The beach was absolutely packed with people and aliens of all ages and species. Instead of battling their way through the crowd, they decided to go for a walk down the high street. Martha and Ruby didn't have a clue what half of them were selling, but they glanced in every single window. Kit kept pressing her nose right up to the glass. On a couple of occasions, Ruby had had to pounce on her to get the excitable little creature out of the way of passers by. To avoid a scene, they headed back the way they had come, towards the hotels and park. Apparently, they did good hot dogs. They could smell them before they arrived, which was strange, as they hadn't noticed them before. But now they were more adjusted, and spotted new things. Including, a very old and faded piece of paper, stuck to a tree.

_HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CHILD?_

_Aaron Brass disappeared on the 25__th__ July 5120_

_If you have any information please call Apri l3- 19582_

"What are you looking at Ruby?" asked Martha, turning back when she realised her friend had stopped.

Ruby motioned to the sign. "I guess some things never change."

As they carried on down the path, a man hurried over to them, coming so close that the girls started, and moved back in surprise. He was quite an attractive specimen, with messy black hair, a light dusting of stubble, tall and slim. He was wearing a faded t-shirt, and well-worn jeans, on his feet however, were smart black shoes, which looked rather out of place. They didn't dwell on it too much; the Doctor wore sneakers with a suit after all.

But his bright blue eyes frightened them; they were half crazed, terrified, or simply exhausted. They couldn't tell which.

"You were looking! You were looking at it! Do you know anything? Anything at all?!"

He grabbed Ruby's arm, and she let out a yelp, trying to pull away, as Kit twittered, trying to peck him off, but he was surprisingly strong. The Doctor immediately stepped in, standing in front of the man and blocking him off from the cowering girl, who Martha put her arm around, glaring at the man.

"Calm down!" said the Doctor angrily, "What are you on about? What do you want?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you." The man looked down, his eyes filling with tears. "That sign. It's my son. He disappeared eight years ago. I haven't seen you before, so I thought…I'm sorry." All three of them were knocked back when he suddenly started crying. Ruby stepped forward, and took his hand.

"It's ok, don't cry. Maybe we can help you."

Martha just stared at her. Half from amazement, half from a sort of respect. The man looked so alarmed, that he blinked his tears away, staring intently at her. Then he smiled, and clutched her hand, a gesture of thanks for dismissing his earlier introduction.

"I really am sorry. I'm not usually that bad, but it's been so long…if you had kids…"

"It's ok. I can see where you're coming from. What's your name? Ruby's right, maybe we can help." pushed The Doctor.

"Ruby…" the man looked thoughtful, then smiled, "My daughter is your age I think. Jade. I'm Jeremy, Jeremy Brass."

"I'm Martha, this is the Doctor." Introduced the other companion.

"And, the pouting cat bird is Kit." Ruby looked up at Kit, who had retreated sulkily in a tree having not been able to help her.

"I can tell you more; I have a hotel...through the woods." Jeremy eyed them warily.

"Allons-y." the Doctor beamed, waving Jeremy on.

So they did just that. They were surrounded by squeals and laughter of children playing, the chirping of birds, and the mutterings of other animals, as they padded along the fresh, springy grass. Sounds fell away as they approached the wood. Martha and Ruby shivered, despite the heat, as they came to the edge of it. Kit launched herself into Ruby's bag, and the Doctor frowned, feeling that something wasn't quite right.

Jeremy suddenly sped up, wanting to get through the dim light of the trees over head. They passed an old stone bench, chipped, and covered with creepers. It clearly hadn't been used in a while. The path they walked was along side an empty groove, which appeared to be a dried up spring. The whole forest seemed to be drying up for some reason. It was unnerving.

Eventually, the came out into a grassy patch, surrounding golden stone bricks, dusty, with weeds poking up between them. A marble fountain loomed in the middle of the courtyard, that too dried up, completely empty, with plants growing through it, and small coins in the pool at the bottom, which no-one seemed to have the heart to remove. They looked ahead of them, and saw a small Georgian-style villa. Steps led up to it, and it was painted a gentle cream. There seemed to be three floors, roughly a dozen windows on the facing wall on each of them. The steps led up to a glass conservatory, and the ground either side of it was a rock garden, already sprouting bright flowers, shrubs and herbs. But like everything else, it was over grown.

"It's beautiful." breathed Martha.

Jeremy shrugged, "It used to be."

"Still is." assured Ruby.

"It was once really popular. People drifted away though."

Jeremy led them up the stairs, and Martha and Ruby unconsciously walked nearer to each other, realising there were no sounds at all, except for them. Not even a bird. Their feet crunched gently on the stone, and they wandered in to the conservatory. It was average sized, enough for a white metal swing chair, a table and a potted plant. Ruby had to hide her giggling at the plant. It reminded her a lot of hotels she'd been to, or maybe it was mild hysteria.

The came into the house, and were greeted by a solid oak desk, and squashy seats scattered around on one side, surrounding a fire place and a glass coffee table. There was a lift in the corner, and a door either side of it. To the right of them, there was a glass wall, leading in to what they presumed to be the restaurant, spotless wooden floors, with tables of two, four, and six, all perfectly spaced. It was basically, an open planned house.

"Sally?" called Jeremy. "Are you available?"

A head popped up from behind the desk, startling the three guests. A woman, who was very slim, and quite small, with bright auburn hair pulled back in a bun, and dark grey eyes, beamed at all of them. She was clearly the optimist to Jeremy's pessimist. She looked delighted to see The Doctor, Martha and Ruby, and curtsied to them, as she was wearing a long black skirt, and a pale green blouse. She barely blinked; it was though she thought if she did, they would just disappear.

"Oh my gosh, guests?!" she cried, Irish accented, "Where ever did you find them Jerry?"

Jeremy seemed reluctant to answer, so the Doctor did on his behalf. "My friends and I just arrived, we were looking for a place to stay, and came across Jeremy here, who said he had a room."

Ruby and Martha exchanged glances, ok, so that's the story they were going with. Even Jeremy looked relieved. It had been a while since he'd seen his wife so happy, he didn't want to ruin it by dredging up the past, and Aaron's disappearance. He gave a discreet grateful look to the Doctor.

"Oh! Of course! Come in, come in! I'm afraid it's a bit untidy, but I'm sure you'll feel right at home." Sally assured.

"We already do Mrs Brass." replied Martha, playing along.

Ruby just smiled, remaining quiet. She didn't really know what to say, and didn't want to blow it. Kit popped up from her bag, immediately sensing Sally's presence as the woman came out from the desk, and walked over to them. Kit chirruped excitedly, fluttering around Sally's head, causing the woman to laugh; even Jeremy managed a weary smile.

"Mum? Where did you go?" called a voice from the door by the stairs.

The door opened, and a girl, a little on the short side, with the long auburn hair of her mother, and her father's blue eyes stepped out. She had on a wrap around denim skirt, a green and white almost rugby-style top, without the sleeves, and her feet were bare, save white trainer socks. She looked astounded to see not just her parents, but three, well, four, newcomers as well.

"Jade! Come and greet our guests!" said an excited Sally.

The girl, still in disbelief, came over. Then she saw Ruby, and relaxed at once to have someone her own age around. She came over more brightly then, and directed her dazzling smile at the girl. She was a couple of inches shorter than Ruby herself, but her personality seemed to make up for that. She seemed more confident when she focused on her whilst addressing the others as well. She reminded Ruby a lot of Amber, and there was a pang in her heart as she remembered her twin. She hadn't spoken to her family in a very long time.

"Hello! Nice to meet you." she greeted. "I'm Jade."

Martha gave Ruby a subtle nudge, bring her out of her own head, and she suddenly realised she was meant to speak on their behalf, "Hey. I'm Ruby, this is Martha and he's the Doctor." She answered. "Nice to meet you too."

"Let's get you some rooms sorted out!" said Sally, all business.

Sally walked over to sign them in, accompanied by Jade, who linked arms with Ruby and propelled her over too. Kit settled on her other shoulder, and the bemused girl headed to the desk with her rather peculiar escort. Martha laughed as she peered back over her shoulder, amused, and the Doctor just smiled. Jeremy turned to Martha and the Doctor, now his family was out of earshot.

"Sorry about that, it's been a while since Jade's had anyone around to talk to. She's such a good girl, but I know she misses her big brother. Sally does too, but she keeps up appearances around Jade." He explained.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm sure Ruby could use a break from us golden oldies herself." Martha shrugged.

"Come through, I'm sure Jade will keep your girl well entertained. Would you like anything to drink, eat?"

Both of them declined, and Jeremy took them through the door Jade had come out of. They turned in to your average hotel corridor, and took the first door on the left, which led in to Jeremy's office. It had a pale blue carpet, and paler still blue wallpaper. Everywhere you looked there were photographs of various relatives. One taken a while ago, the last one before Aaron's disappearance, showed Jeremy, a well-built, beaming, clean-shaven man. Sally, with her hair falling all about her shoulders were laughing at his side. A much younger Jade, probably about eight, was in her arms, staring curiously at the camera. Jeremy had his hand on the shoulder of a young boy, grinning cheekily, with messy black hair and grey eyes. Aaron.

Jeremy caught Martha looking.

"Yes, that's him. A real trouble maker, heart of gold though."

"What happened?" questioned the Doctor, wanting to get to the point.

"We had a day off from the hotel, so we took our guests to the park, the other side of the woods, you've seen it. Aaron and Jade were playing with their kids; they always welcomed people in to their home happily. The sun was starting to set, so we were about to head home for a barbeque, on Aaron's insistence. One of the lads staying at the hotel threw the Frisbee and it landed in the woods. Aaron went to fetch it, and we suddenly heard this snarl. A wolf, I think it was a wolf, appeared, and…and…"

His eyes were filling up again. Martha looked at him sympathetically, mentally lending him her moral support whilst simultaneously trying to get him to finish his story. He took a deep breath, blinking back the tears.

"There was a howl…and I never saw my son again." He looked up sharply, "But I know he's still alive. I know it."

"Yes, I'm sure he is." nodded Martha.

"Did you try searching the wood?" asked the Doctor.

"Right away. The other parents came with me. But he was nowhere to be seen. Then we suddenly got scared off by the wolves. Plural. They didn't sound like wolves, but I don't know how else to describe them."

"Can you take us there?"

Jeremy nodded. He was sceptical about how helpful the two of them would be. There'd been eight of them before, and they all got scared off. He had lasted longer, but one of the other dad's persuaded him to go back, so they could plan out what to do. The three of them headed back to reception, this time led by the Doctor. He oozed confidence; he was determined to get this boy back. Jeremy could see this, and filled with hope, kept up with him. Only Martha was dubious. She knew what the Doctor could be like when he got his mind set on something. It wasn't always a good thing.

When they came back, the scene was already quite different. They all froze at the exact same time, not wanting to interrupt. Sally came from the restaurant, bearing ice cream, enthusiastic about having another young person to look after. Ruby was showing Jade how to get Kit to dance. Jade turned on a small portable stereo that she had run out to get from the back room. They had no idea what to expect when they turned it on. Music suddenly seemed to light up the whole room. They all cracked up when they heard it. It was hugely retro. In fact, it was an earth song, from Martha's time. She couldn't quite believe it. It was so surreal. It was, ironically, about a girl called Ruby.

"Wow, you're famous." giggled Jade.

"Oh no…" Ruby laughed, "It's the song my parents named me after, actually."

Kit was most excitable. She zoomed around the reception area, twittering and chirping. Ruby held up her hand and Kit flew over to her. She turned, grinning at Jade. Martha and the Doctor had never seen her quite like this before, relaxed and at ease with her friends. She waved her hand in time with the music, and Kit sung along. Jade squealed with laughter, clapping them on. Sally was overjoyed. Since Aaron disappeared, her daughter had been reserved and quiet, but this strange combination, of a girl and her alien, seemed to be breathing life back in to the whole hotel. As the song finished, Ruby made another motion, and Kit bowed. Jade howled with laughter. Even Martha had to laugh as well. As she did, Sally and the two girls looked up, realising they had company again.

"Oh, you're back!" cried Sally. "Come, come. I brought enough for everyone."

Jeremy suddenly knew for certain, by the time their three guests left, he would have his son again. But even if he didn't…just maybe…They could be happy together again, on Aaron's behalf. What he didn't know, was that this was the very reason the Doctor was determined to help them. He had lost everyone and everything. If he could help just bring one family back together, maybe his guilt would start losing some of its grip. Martha had already started helping him well on the way to accepting things, but it was going to take a lot more to make up for the death of his planet.

"Hey, Martha, Ruby was telling me you wanted to be a doctor?" Jade called over, "Me too! Can you tell me about it?"

Martha, accepting her summons, and quite liking the prospect of having a sort of normal discussion in the midst of all this strangeness. She went over, standing near the girls. She was immediately handed a vanilla ice-cream. Even Kit got some, as Ruby was sharing hers with her, and the Doctor kept his eye on all three of them. Jeremy turned to the Doctor, giving a knowing smile.

"You really do understand." he said quietly.

As Jeremy left him, the Doctor was taken aback. He understood a lot of things that was for certain. But he wasn't quite sure what Jeremy was focusing on exactly. Although, he did have a sneaking suspicion.

After a while, then they were all fed and watered, Jeremy whispered something in his wife's ear. Her face momentarily flickered, but she soon hid it again as Jade looked up. She nodded brightly at her husband, who then turned to Jade.

"I'm going to show Martha and the Doctor around." He smiled, "I'm sure Ruby here doesn't want to be stuck with us old fogies, so can you take care of her?"

Ruby didn't make any protest. She understood, although she couldn't help feeling faintly left out. Mainly because she wouldn't be able to make sure they were alright. But, she guessed they could probably take care of themselves. They'd done it for a while before she ever came on to the scene. Besides, it was nice to have Jade. She'd been told all about her and Aaron when they were children, and she had told her all about Amber.

"You've worked hard lately Ruby, you do deserve a break from us." said the Doctor, sensing her unease. Then he gave her _that_ look before he spoke again, "I'm sure teenage girls have a lot of things to catch up on." he winked.

Ah, right, so that was it. She was stationed here, to find out what she could from Sally and Jade. Martha gave her a friendly wave as the three of them all trooped out again, leaving the two girls sitting on the desk, whilst behind them Sally watched them leave, Ruby could sense her anxiety, and turned towards her with a smile. The woman returned the gesture.

"Oh, I need to get some things for dinner." Sally suddenly realised. "They'll be six of us tonight. Do you mind if I nip out Jay?"

"Go for it. There's a couple things I wanted to show Ruby anyway." She answered.

So that was that. It was some time mid afternoon, that Jade and Ruby were alone in the hotel. Jeremy was still showing Martha and the Doctor around, and Sally was down at the grocery store. Jade intently watched her mother leave, then grabbed Ruby's arm, taking her to the kitchen, and through the back door, outside. Her friend had no idea what she was doing, but she had the kind of nervous energy about her that people did when they were doing something they shouldn't, and knew it. Alert, Ruby shot a look at the girl.

"It's ok. I just wanted to show you something my brother showed me. My parents don't like me going in the gardens much."

Jeremy, Martha and the Doctor, were in the forest again. This time, they didn't go all the way through it. They got about halfway down the dried up stream, and then headed away from the path. Although there was still sunshine out, it was mostly kept out by the thickets of trees. Martha even had to put her jacket on. The further away from the path they got, the darker it seemed to get. They trod down brambles and nettles to get through.

"We came about this far, when we were chased off." stated Jeremy.

The Doctor had whipped out his sonic screwdriver, and it beeped gently, precisely, scanning the area. It was almost like a tracking device of sorts. It started blipping diligently just ahead of them. They immediately carried on, keeping their eyes open for any visitors. A dark shaped ran across in front of them, Martha bit her lip to stop from calling out. Jeremy stood by her, protectively, as the Doctor led the way.

"Hello…what's this?"

The Doctor edged forward, holding brambles out of the way. He stopped short as he saw something that he wasn't quite expecting. Martha immediately hurried over to join him, soon followed by Jeremy. Looming over them was in fact, a cliff. Jeremy looked as startled as the others. They'd never come this far in to the forest before, so hadn't really noticed it. He was mentally kicking himself. The Doctor made to venture forward, frowning as he saw a small crevasse in the cliff face, about half way up, leading out on to a small ledge. But a low growl put pay to that, as several huge black things suddenly darted out of it. They weren't quite wolves, they were faintly cat-like dogs, only the size of a panther. The face and head was more canine, but their bodies were lean and slim, with long skinny tails, almost like a Chinese-style dog statue.

"Oh. Company." said the Doctor, perfectly calm, simply because he was so unprepared for it.

Ruby was getting more anxious with every second. Jade had led her out of the back gate in the garden, towards a separate opening for the forest. A chill went down her spine, and she half wished she had packed a sweater or something in her bag.

"Jade…is this a good idea?"

"Don't sweat it. Aaron and I used to do this all the time." assured her friend.

They traipsed through thorns and thistles that scratched their bare legs and ankles, but neither girl seemed to notice it much, Jade because she was too focused, Ruby because she was too hesitant to stop, in case she lost her guide. She was faintly remembered of days at camp or out in the park with friends when she was small, traipsing through little crops of woods and pretending to be on some kind of adventure. Ironic then that she should be hundreds of years in the future, on a different planet at that moment. There wasn't a path as such, just slight patches of dirt where feet had worn away vegetation. They came to a standstill at a little rocky outcrop, leading up to more trees and plants. Jade immediately clambered up, but Ruby had a really bad feeling about it.

"Come on! It's perfectly safe." edged on the girl.

She couldn't very well let her go on by herself, so Ruby heaved herself up, catching up with her. They made their way along a narrow ledge, there was only the stone, and the trees to the side, not much room for manoeuvre. Jade paused for thought for a moment as they came to a small fork, before choosing the left hand road. It didn't escape her comrade that they seemed to be getting higher up, the further along they went. She had no idea how long they walked for, but they seemed to be turning back on themselves, give or take a few metres in height.

"Oh. Company."

Ruby froze. She knew that voice, she knew it very well. Jade crouched down, hurrying off the path. She came to the edge of the ledge they were on, and lay on her stomach behind a wild rose bush. Peering down, she could see the backs of the creatures, and the fronts of her father, Martha, and the Doctor. That was probably a bad thing. The creatures barked unnerving sounds at them, and she could make head nor tail of them. There wasn't a word to describe what it sounded like. It was like standing in a foreign country, trying to work out what was going on whilst you were invisible to everyone around you. Jade waved Ruby over, and she was joined in a matter of seconds, both camouflaged in the little light there was around.

"We don't want to cause any trouble." said the Doctor swiftly. "We just…want to find somebody."

The creatures eyed him, menacing, snarling all the while. Then something seemed to click. They stopped snapping and growling, and one of them edged up to the Doctor. Martha and Jeremy immediately backed up, but he didn't move.

"What are you?" demanded one of them.

Jeremy and Jade looked completely blank; to them it was just noise. But to Martha, the Doctor, and Ruby, it was plain English. Ruby blinked in confusion…talking animals? That was a new one. It wasn't telepathic talking either. The Doctor took it in his stride.

"I'm the Doctor. What are you?"

"We are the Azara. How do you speak our language so fluently? No other can understand us."

"This lot hasn't come across you before. They don't know what you're trying to say."

"We have not met you either. Yet you do."

Ruby was listening intently, although from a distance. Jade had no idea what was going on, all she could hear was the Doctor making the same bizarre sounds as the Azara, her and her father weren't connected to the Tardis, like the others. She shuffled her position slightly, and a shower of dust and pebbles fell down from their ledge, to the creatures below. They turned around, at the same time as Martha and The Doctor, who immediately focused on them.

"Spies! He brings spies to betray us!" growled the Azara.

"They're not spies, honest. Don't even know what they're doing here myself." covered the Doctor.

"Just passers by out for a walk." nodded Martha.

"Are you…talking to them?" Jeremy questioned.

The creatures were having none of it. With an almighty howl, they bounded up, three or four of them landing in front of the teenagers. Jade scrambled up, immediately running away.

"After her!" demanded the lead Azara. "Before she reports back to the Hunters!"

"Ruby, Jade, run!" cried the Doctor.

Jade didn't need telling twice. She was out of there like a shot. It took her a minute to realise, that Ruby was nowhere behind her. Martha and the Doctor turned on Ruby, who hadn't moved a muscle, calling her to get up and get out. They had no idea what was going on. Jade tried to get back to help her, but she was cut off by two of the animals.

"Don't just sit there!" yelled the Doctor.

As the Azara surrounded Ruby, she still didn't move. She wasn't even looking at them, no, in fact, she was staring below her, down at the ground. Her face was pale, and she was shaking. She hadn't been so close to the edge before, but she'd moved to get away from them, and the ledge had suddenly stopped.

"Ruby…" Martha finally twigged, "Ruby, what's wrong?"

Her friend gave no answer; she was just fixated on the forest below her, completely paralysed. Kit kept twittering urgently head-butting her to get up and run, but she didn't. The girl gave a strangled reply.

"It's…very high..." she stuttered.

"Ruby, you have vertigo?!" realised Martha, alarmed.

One of the Azara pounced on her, flexing it's front legs and claws towards her. The leader, still on the ground, suddenly realised what was going on.

"No! Don't!" ordered the leader, finding some compassion for a person already scared witless. They weren't a malevolent species by nature, but they were driven by survival.

But it was too late. The Azara did try to stop, although questioning why it had been asked to. But the momentum knocked it straight into Ruby, and she shrieked as she fell of the ledge, down and down towards the ground. Martha cried out, and the Doctor looked on in horror.

"No, no, no, no, NO! I'M NOT LOSING SOMEONE ELSE!" he hollered.

Then there was a rush of air, something in the branches, and something else darted out of the tree tops from a rope, catching her, and gripping a hand hole for dear life, halfway down the cliff. It was a man. A young man, with tangled shoulder-length black hair, and intense grey eyes. He had frayed and ragged trouser on, a worn out white shirt, now more of a brownish grey, and bare feet. He was muscular, but silent.

"Aaron…?" Jeremy was wide-eyed.

Ruby really didn't care who it was. She clung to his shirt, refusing to look down. As soon as he had caught her the Azara retreated, jumping up and into the small cave near where they had been. Aaron turned to follow them, still holding Ruby. When she realised he intended to go with them, she looked at him, wide-eyed.

"RUBY!!" called the Doctor, as she disappeared.

Jade, stranded on the ledge now, looked down at the three below her; all of them were shocked in to silence. The Doctor immediately ran to the cliff, intending on climbing it, he was incensed. Martha ran up to try and stop him, but it wasn't much use, especially as Jade suddenly started calling out for Jeremy.

"Dad! Dad!! They got Ruby! It's my fault!" she whimpered.

All it needed for Jeremy to join the Doctor was that. They helped each other, and Martha, as she gave in, up to the ledge, where Jade ran over, flinging her arms around Jeremy, sobbing. The Doctor ran in to the cave where Ruby had disappeared, and Kit, who until then had been with Jade, was hot on his heels. Or, shoulder, rather. Martha hurried in after him.

"Ruby?!" called the Doctor.

"Ruby, where are you?!" echoed Martha.

They didn't get any answers. It was damp and cold in there, so much so you could see your breath mist in front of you, using what little light there was available. It was enhanced by the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, but as they went further in to the cave, they left the light of the entrance behind them.

Ruby was gently set down by Aaron in some kind of alcove, overlooking the sea in the distance, whilst still being sheltered. Were the passages really that long? She was still a little disorientated at the whole thing, as the Azara came in behind them. Much to her surprise, her 'captor' immediately began cleaning the various cuts and scrapes she had gathered on the way.

"Where am I?" she questioned, finally finding her voice again, "And why did you bring me here?"

"You can understand us. Other's can't." answered the head Azara. "We took you away from the others, because the hunters might have singled a large group out."

"You could have at least let them know I was ok." she replied.

"They'll know."

The voice came from an unusual source. It was Aaron, currently bandaging a cut on her ankle. Even the Azara seemed surprised to hear him speak, judging by the way they all turned and looked at him in unison.

Martha and the Doctor were hopelessly lost. They must have taken a wrong turning without realising it, because as far as they could tell, they were going around and around in circles. The Doctor growled in frustration, and Martha wondered where Jade and Jeremy had gotten to.

"Don't you have a tracking device or something?" questioned Martha.

"Just how happy do you think Ruby would be with that?" was the response, "Far too Big Brother."

"Can't you pick up her…bio data or…something?"

They both froze as they turned and heard something. A lot of somethings, coming steadily towards them. They automatically ducked around a corner, and as they did, a beam of light bounced off the wall near where they had just been standing. The Doctor made a shushing motion, and they looked out on more beams of light, torches. They were soon followed by silhouettes.

"Martha?!" came the call, Jeremy.

"Doctor?" Jade was next to him.

With sighs of relief, the pair stepped out to meet up with their friends. Only to find that behind them, was the fox flower seller from before, and half a dozen others like him. Jeremy and Jade ran up to meet them, More than relieved to have tracked them down.

"How did you find us?" asked Martha, ecstatic, "We don't even know where we are ourselves."

But something wasn't quite right. Although the father and daughter really were delighted to see them, their smiles were forced, and they looked overly tense, like they wanted to run out as soon as they could. The flower seller gave a smile, walking over, and plucking the flower out of Martha's hair. Well, at least someone had a tracking device.

"How did you end up here Aaron? Why didn't you try getting home?" questioned Ruby.

"I did. But I always got lost. Then the hunters came after me." was the calm, slightly gravely, reply. "They thought I was hiding something." He shrugged. "The Azara took care of me."

"We tried to communicate to his father that he was safe…but he didn't understand us." backed up the leader.

"Who are these hunters?" pressed Ruby, acting surprisingly Doctor-like.

The Azara all exchanged glances, nervous and wary of divulging their knowledge. But they couldn't expect the Tardis crew to help, whilst concealing the fact from them. The Leader, relaxed enough to lie down, moved position, although he was still about the same height as Ruby standing, and turned to her.

"The hunters are our opposition, the Kazara. Distant cousins of ours traditionally. We lived perfectly peacefully for a long time. But then, each side wanted to expand their territory. I'm sure you're smart enough to realise the knock on effects. Now they're the bane of our existence." He sighed.

"Very Darwin." agreed Ruby. She was met with blank looks.

"They find us, wherever we go. We thought we were safe when the humans picked us up, on route here. But they always find us."

"And today, that's no different."

All of them looked up with a start, as the flower seller from before appeared in the alcove. In front of him were Martha, Jade, Jeremy, and the Doctor. All held at laser gun point. Kit was being restrained by another, although frantically flapping to try and get free.

"What the?!" breathed Ruby. "Let them go!" she cried.

Aaron brought an arm around her, pulling her back so she didn't run up to them. It was for her own safety. He was only about two years older, but seemed so much more as he eyed the Kazara warily. The Azara immediately started growling, on the defensive as they sprung up.

"Perfect tour guide, one who doesn't know they are one." The flower seller grinned.

"You what?!" exclaimed Ruby.

Then she realised, looking down at the sunflower attached to her bag. Great, the first time a guy had given her flowers, and he had an ulterior motive. She was cut off from the others as the Azara all lined up in front of her and Aaron.

"Ruby…just keep it together." The Doctor called coolly over to her. You'd think he'd faced certain death before.

"Why…why do you keep following us?" demanded the Azara leader.

"If you want room to expand, you have to clear the area." was the sinister reply.

"Why can't you just expand somewhere else?" challenged the Doctor.

"Wherever we go, they're always there." replied the Kazara.

"You're the ones that follow _us_!" retorted the Azara.

Martha, Jade and Jeremy looked over desperately at Ruby and Aaron, stranded on the other side of the conflict. It wasn't a particularly desirable situation for any of them. They just seemed to have a habit of ending up in the middle of things, whether they wanted to or not. Oh well, at least the Doctor had kept his promise, they'd found Aaron. Ideas were already whirring around in his head, as the Kazara leader eyed the Azara one.

"You can come to us of your own accord, or we'll use this little gang of yours to our advantage."

"Why don't we just settle this the normal way?" the Azara side suggested.

Ruby cried out as the two aliens suddenly lunged at each other, both aiming for the throat of the other. They missed, and landed again, circling each other, like any animal. Even the fox man was on all fours, which looked decidedly odd. Ruby was so involved watching the fight that she didn't see the Doctor trying to get her attention. There was a howl, and a snarl and fur suddenly started flying. Her and Aaron were forced further back, towards the exit, and Aaron visibly tensed, dearly wanting to help his friends, but he was still holding on to Ruby.

"Ruby...you might want to pick your bag up." hinted the Doctor.

"Huh?" she'd completely missed the point.

"So it doesn't get spoiled." He hinted more heavily, "You never know when it might come in useful."

"You're joking right?"

"Perfectly serious."

"Just grab it Ruby!!" hollered Jade.

She did so, a split second before one of the Kazara tried to grab it for himself, minus the sunflower. He lunged at her, pressing the two of them back against the wall, but a stray Azara ran into him, knocking him away.

"Ouch!" cried Ruby, as something burned her hand.

Panicking, she muddled around in her bag, before drawing out something that was rather warm to the touch. She the end of her t-shirt to hold it. It was, of all things, her pen, glowing a bright magenta.

"Point and click." instructed the Doctor, motioning above him.

Thinking he was utterly nuts, but desperate enough to try anything, Ruby held it up, and clicked it on. Much to her astonishment, the sound of something sonic emitted from it. The Doctor grabbed Martha and Jade, either side of him, and yanked them out of the way. The three of them, plus Jeremy, Kit in his arms, dove out of the way, as the roof of the tunnel collapsed just where they had been standing, landing right on the Kazara's front line.

"When did you do _that_?!" exclaimed Ruby, staring in disbelief at her pen.

"Just run! Aaron, can you get us out?!"

Aaron nodded, and Ruby yelped as he suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the way and to the opening of the alcove, where they met up with the others, who had skirted the fight.

"Go with them!" demanded the Azara leader, seeing their chance before their foe pulled themselves up.

The bizarre ensemble all just ran, paws and tails avoiding feet and arms, on to a narrow ledge. This was Ruby's worst nightmare. The only way out, was up. They all headed up before her, gripping and climbing on to a grassy ridge above. Aaron and the Doctor were all too aware that she didn't want to go anywhere. As they rushed the others up and out, each of them held down a hand to her.

"Come on, we've got you!" reassured Aaron.

She was sure they had. But it didn't make the fact that she'd been silly enough to look behind her go away. Her heart rate and blood pressure went through the roof. The supportive yells of her friends, ahead of the two in front of her, were just tinny noise. All she could hear was the blood in her veins, and her vision started to blur. Then a voice rang out clearly, and fuzzily, she looked up. She had a major case of tunnel vision, but she could see, clear as day, the Doctor, reaching out to her.

"Ruby…" he coaxed. "Close your eyes, and trust me."

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and flew at the hands. She was hoisted up into the air, and then the Doctor kept a hold of her hand as they ran, Aaron shot her a dazzling smile before running up to lead the others to safety. The Doctor turned to her, and grinned. Meekly, she smiled back. Then they went to catch up with the howls of victory, coming from the Azara, way ahead of all of them.

The scene that greeted a number of park goers was a strange one. There was a rumbling, and then huge black dog-like creatures burst out of the woods, causing people to scream and run out of the way, but they were followed by an assembly of a newly youthful man, a squealing girl clutching his hand, a wild boy laughing at them, a junior doctor from London, a hybrid teenage girl and her alien, and a Timelord, clutching her hand. They all collapsed in a heap, exhausted from the run, but delirious on adrenalin and relief at being safe.

"Are they shooting a film or something?" commented one man from across the park.

Another passer by just so happened to be Sally Brass. Who, as soon as she saw the congregated on the grass, dropped her groceries, and ran over, throwing herself into her long-lost son's arms. Jade clung to him too, and Jeremy wrapped his arms around all three of them.

"Now _that's_ what it's all about." gloated the Doctor.

Sally turned to him, and tears were streaming down her face. She hurried over, and hugged him too, much to his surprise, and Martha and Ruby's amusement. Kit just chirruped away happily.

"Thank you, thank you so much. I don't know how I can ever repay you. If there's anything I can do…" she insisted.

"Well…I did have one idea…" he started, pretending to be coy.

"Name it!"

"Could you take care of some friends for me?" he pointed his thumb behind him, where the Azara were all laying down next to each other.

"Of course, I'd do anything for you. All of you." Sally gave a watery smile.

Jeremy walked over whilst Jade was busily nattering away to her brother. He held out his hand, and shook the Doctor's, before bringing him into a hug. A manly hug, just to keep up appearances.

"You're one of the good ones, Doctor." Jeremy nodded. "You can stay with us as long as you like, free of charge."

"Oh, that's very kind. But, we should probably get going." said the Doctor mildly.

"So soon?!" complained Jade, "But we've only just all come back together! Being held at gun point sparing."

"I think this should be a time for your family Miss Brass." The Doctor said with a wink. "But duty calls us elsewhere, I'm afraid."

"I'm really glad everything worked out for you." beamed Martha. "He's brilliant is the Doctor."  
"Ah, well…" grinned the Doctor modestly.

The only person who remained quiet was Ruby. She hadn't quite taken on board everything, as it all seemed to happen so fast. Besides, she didn't want to say goodbye. She was quite attached to the Brass family. She looked at the leader of the Azara, peering at him curiously.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Sirius." He replied.

Without warning, she was suddenly drawn back into the real world, so to speak, as Jade seemed to be talking to her. She slowly turned around, and found herself being pulled up, and embraced in a very firm hug, courtesy of her friend. Jeremy ruffled her hair and she smiled slightly, blowing it out of her eyes. Sally took her hand in both of hers beaming profusely.

"Thank you so much Ruby. You don't know how much you helped us today."

"Any time." Ruby shrugged, genuinely shy.

"I wish you could stay with us." Sighed Sally.

"But you'll write, or phone or something?" said Jade eagerly, "Promise?!"

Ruby nodded, and was hugged again for her efforts. Then she caught Aaron staring at her, not blinking at all. She didn't really notice when Jeremy called Jade over to help with something in the house, shortly followed by Sally. Martha and the Doctor were walking the path on the way to the Tardis, and still Aaron just stared at her. Eventually, he made a move, and whipped out something from behind his back. It was a little crumpled, but still glowing brilliantly. A dark purple sunflower, which he presented to her.

"Tracking device not included." He quipped, and she could see the cheeky, happy-go-lucky, warm-hearted boy he was those eight years ago when he disappeared, she liked what she saw. "I hope I see you again some time, Ruby Arduino."

She was knocked speechless, as he planted a kiss on her lips, before grinning cheekily and disappearing. She was so stunned, she didn't even realise she'd never told Aaron her last name. She was brought back to earth with a thud as Martha called over to her.

"Come on slow coach, things to do, people to see!"

Ruby smiled, and jogged to catch up with her friends, and was greeted by a furry bundle launching itself in to her arms.


	4. Roses Are Red

Roses are Red

The Manor was buzzing with activity. The country house, in the middle of the countryside, loomed out of the dusk, huge, with numerous windows and grounds that spanned a few acres. The drive way to the house was a good carriage ride long, through trees and wild roses, beautifully kept. A girl, with chestnut brown hair, was at the end of the drive way, by the iron wrought gates, pruning branches. She was quite behind the fashions of the time, wearing a plaid shirt, dusty brown trousers, bracers, and a straw hat. She was frowned upon in public, but the family she worked for adored her.

A carriage trod down the driveway, the horses' hooves clicking against the stone slabs, and the wheels rattling and squeaking. A cloaked man was waiting in the carriage as it stopped just before the entrance to the house, to where the girl was happily humming away. He stepped out, and his shadow fell over the girl. She spun around, and her grass-green eyes were full of terror. She screamed, and her shears clattered to the ground, where she was no longer.

The Tardis spun through time and space, its engine whirring, rising and falling. The Doctor, and his three companions, Martha, Ruby and Kit, were all comfortably sitting on the floor, drinking tea, or, coffee, in Ruby's case. Ruby and Martha eyed the control panel warily, but figured it probably had some sort of autopilot.

The three had been together a while now, and were comfortable in each other's company. Kit sniffed at a ball in the centre of where the others were sitting, batting it around. Martha, in jeans and a long turquoise vest-top, with her ever present red leather jacket, was telling them about some of the bizarre people she had come across at the hospital where she worked. Ruby almost choked on her coffee as she laughed.

"Where to this time Doctor?" she asked as she recovered.

"No idea. I put her on autoscan." Her, meaning the Tardis.

"Like a radio?" the girl smirked.

She was wearing grey combats, a long black t-shirt, and a pale blue jacket. Her bandana was black today, to match. The Doctor countered with a story about him and some weird alien species that lived in the intergalactic sewer. Not quite so pleasant, and both of his companions wrinkled their noses. The Tardis suddenly jerked, sending coffee and tea flying.

"Looks like we have our destination." stated the Doctor.

He ran over to the control panel as the girl's shook hot beverages off their hands, wound up what looked like a bike pedal, and pressed a button, and the ship careered towards somewhere on earth, judging by the co-ordinates. What time, they didn't exactly know.

"Let's go, shall we?" the Doctor grinned.

He opened the door and stepped out, closely followed by Ruby and Martha. They appeared to be in some sort of garden, behind an archway of trees and roses. There didn't seem to be anyone around, but Ruby's foot stood on something hard, and she looked down. Pruning shears. Odd. She picked them up, looking around for a shed or something, or a table she could put them on, as they walked out from their hiding place. The moment they did, they realised it was a bright, if chilly day. Probably spring some time, judging from the flowers. A woman suddenly came hurtling out of the front door, dressed as a maid, which placed them somewhere in the mid-19th century. She was small, and round, with rosy cheeks and the hair not covered by her bonnet was strawberry blonde.

"Oh! Isobel! Thank heavens! Where have you been?!" cried the maid, flinging her arms around Ruby. "You can't just disappear for 6 months without saying anything!"

"Um…sorry?" Ruby shrugged apologetically.

"Oh, Arthur, you too! The mistress was terribly concerned about you both. I'm sure you took care of your daughter…but still."

They all looked around to find out who they were addressing, and the Doctor realised it was in fact him. This woman thought Ruby was his daughter? Something wasn't quite right here.

"Come, come! What ever are you wearing? The girls will be glad you're both back." The maid looked at the Doctor with a sneaky smile, "Lucy is especially keen to see you."

Ruby was dragged away by the woman linking arms with her, not for the first time, oddly. But she was also carrying shears. Slightly unnatural. The Doctor lingered behind for a moment, and turned to Martha, who had taken the initiative and kept her distance. He whispered to her.

"Do a little investigating Inspector Jones." He whispered to her.

He tossed her the psychic paper, and his sonic screwdriver. She caught them, and was then abandoned as the maid called behind for him, and her two friends disappeared. She looked at Kit, who Ruby had somehow already told to stay with her, and sighed. She scratched the Tardis' 'mascot' behind the ears.

"Looks like it's just you and me this time."

The animal just looked at her strangely, and she shrugged; only Ruby seemed to be able to talk to her, and she was otherwise occupied. Martha walked along a narrow path, leading away from the house, through an arch of vines, towards a wood. She ducked into a circle of dense sweet-smelling shrubs as voices came passed her. Two girls, probably no more than about fourteen, walked by her, carrying groceries, maids, apparently.

"Becca told Ivy told me, that Izzy suddenly reappeared. Mr Ramsay an' all." drawled one.

"Wonder where she went." queried the other, "'pparently she dis'ppeared just before Lord Scott put in an appearance."

"How queer."

The two girls disappeared again, and Martha came out of hiding, clutching tightly on to Kit so she didn't fly off anywhere, traipsing through extraordinarily long grass and weeds. She tripped over something, and looked down. It seemed to be a shovel, one that had been out in the rain, it was terribly rusted, and next to it was a heavy iron key, also rusting, and, oddly enough, a flat cap. Martha looked around for the owner of any of the items, but the fact that daisies were growing through the key made her fairly certain it hadn't been used in a while. She scooped up the key, wrapping it in a tissue so she didn't stain her clothes.

"This trip just seems to get stranger." Kit chirruped in agreement.

Meanwhile, The Doctor and Ruby were led by Ellen, the maid, into a very gothic Victorian Manor, which was huge. It seemed to have at least 6 floors, and the windows were uncountable there were so many of them. It was like visiting a National Trust site, but it was very much alive. The three of them came in a back entrance, which turned out to be the kitchen. As soon as The Doctor stepped in, followed by Ruby, everything seemed to freeze.

"Omigosh! Izzy!" cried a girl, hurrying over.

"Arthur?" a woman breathed.

The girl, about Ruby's age, a scrap of a creature, with gold-blonde hair and bright blue eyes, ran over, embracing a rather bemused Ruby. What was it with strangers clinging to her, ever since she teamed up with the Doctor? The woman looked just like her, only an older version, her sister.

"Told you Lucy would be happy to see you." Ellen grinned.

"Hullo." replied Ruby cautiously.

"Is the Mistress around Jane?" Ellen asked the girl, once Ruby managed to detach her.

Jane pursed her small rosy mouth, "No ma, she's with Lord Scott."

The whole staff seemed to groan, but they soon stopped as the door opened, going straight back to work like nothing had happened, although they all kept glancing at the Doctor and his companion in disbelief, who just shrugged at each other. Into the now rather crowded kitchen walked a woman, tall and willowy, with hair the colour of burnt copper, and dark brown eyes, she wore a pale blue silk dress, and as she saw the two arrivals, her eyes started filling, and she clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Oh! Isobel! Arthur! It's so good to see you!" she hurried over, kissing them on both cheeks.

"Hello madam." greeted the Doctor with a smile.

"G'day…ma'm." Ruby quickly improvised.

Behind her, a tall, slim man, with steel grey hair and watery green eyes, wearing a smart suit, and walking with a cane, appeared. He spotted Ruby, and stared straight at her, frowning. No-one else caught it, but she sure as anything did, as did the Doctor, and she shivered, stepping closer to him.

"Oh, Albert." cried the well-dressed woman, Mrs Josephine Lawrence, "Isobel and Arthur Ramsay, they're back! You remember them, don't you?"

"Perpetually." replied the man, putting on an air of gentleness.

Jane and Lucy stood almost protectively behind the pair of them, not wanting Lord Scott to get any closer to their friends, and the hapless two had no idea why. Both of them were wishing Martha could hurry up and tell them something, anything, about what was going on, and why everyone seemed to believe they were someone else. Lord Scott stared intently at Ruby, eyeing her up and down.

"Interesting attire Miss Ramsay." He pointed out, "Where did you get it from?"

"Um…just from, around."

"Well, I'm sure it must be terribly uncomfortable for a young lady to be forced into _that_. Mayhap we should lend the girl a dress Josephine. Then she might entertain our guests?"

"Pardon?" it was the word 'dress' that had made Ruby wince.

"You have guests, Lord Scott?" asked the Doctor pointedly, not willing to let Ruby out of his sight.

"Yes, we do Mr Ramsay. Friends of mine visiting from the city. It would be ever so pleasant to let them hear Miss Ramsay play. If of course you can spare her from the garden? You have been gone for a while."

To all the gathered, it seemed like the two were squaring off. They were roughly the same height, and had that same mysterious yet dangerous quality about them. It made the maids nervous, and many of the younger girls huddled together, the older women keeping close to them, protectively. The tension in the air seemed to build up, and once again the sounds of washing and chopping had been silenced as all of them turned to watch. It was Josephine that broke the silence.

"Perhaps another time Albert." She smiled kindly, "The poor girl looks exhausted, and I'm sure they would much rather catch up with everyone." She turned to the Doctor, "We can discuss your sudden disappearance at another point Mr Ramsay."

Ruby exhaled a sigh of relief. This was all too strange. As a displeased Albert turned on his heel and whisked out of the door, the woman looked pointedly at Ruby, as if to say she owed her one, but there was a hint of affection in her gaze. They disappeared, and everyone relaxed, going back to work again. The Doctor was still bristling, and Ruby put a hand on his arm to calm him down.

"You can breathe now D….um, father…" wow, did that ever sound weird.

The Doctor gave her a strange look, and then turned to Ellen, Lucy and Jane, the only people still not working, as all three were eyeing them with amazement. He rounded on Lucy, the others seem too gobsmacked to be much use.

"It seems we missed a lot?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes, you did. Ever since Izzy wandered off he's all but moved into the house. He started off claiming he would take care of the mistress," she stared at Ruby, "You know you're the closest thing she has to any children of her own. She was stricken when you missed dinner that night." Ruby had the decency to look at the ground, ashamed. "Then he kept coming back. He's practically the master of the house now."

"Our betting is it's not long til he proposes." added Jane glumly.

"Then we'll all be turfed out and he'll install his own staff." Ellen sighed.

"We wouldn't let that happen, would we Isobel?" the Doctor looked straight at her.

"Uh, no, never, in a million years."

Martha was getting increasingly nervous. She kept ducking and darting at every slight movement as she somehow wound her way through the house grounds, they seemed to stretch on for miles. Then, she suddenly realised it was a lot darker than when they had arrived, and looked up at black clouds, just in time for the heavens to open.

She gathered Kit underneath her jacket and sped up her pace, looking for anywhere to wait out the sudden shower. She stumbled on to a wobbly wooden shed, it was about the size of a large caravan, and the raindrops thundered down on its tin roof, there were wonky windows either side of it, and a large padlocked door. There seemed to be no sound coming from it, and it didn't exactly look grand, but she didn't have anywhere else to go. She saw the padlock and frowned. It had been forced open.

"I'll look in to that later." She mentioned, looking at Kit.

The door creaked as it opened stiffly, and Martha sneezed at the dust that rose up from it, before diving in to it before she got soaked through. She didn't expect what she saw. It wasn't your average shed. It was more like a house. The room she stood in had wooden flooring, a fireplace towards the far end, a small kitchenette type thing on the right, and two doors on the left, in the middle it was set up like a living room. A frayed sheet hung over the window, pots and pans lay at the side of the kitchen sink.

There was a large armchair one side of the fireplace, and a smaller rocking chair opposite it. The arm of the chair had a book on gardening on it, and next to the rocker was a half-finished patched quilt. It looked like it was ready for another day, but had been frozen in time, save the layers of dust, the smell of old vegetables, and, Martha could tell, a distinct sense of emptiness.

"This could probably use further investigation."

The place was eerie, but Martha was braver for having company. It would have probably been quite a nice, homely place, she could tell whoever lived there would have loved it, and she wondered why they left. She clung on to Kit tighter, although the little alien twittered, trying to drag Martha to one of the doors. The woman gave in and tentatively pushed the left hand door open. She was assaulted by the smell of aloe, and lavender, with undertones of mustiness. Rain pelted against the window, and it was dark, but somehow, despite dense trees and bad weather, some light was coming through the flimsy glass.

"Wow."

It was a simple room, wooden floors, with a lilac carpet in the middle, an old folding up bed with just sheets and a blanket in one corner, a dressing table along one side, a desk the same side as the bed and a small chest of drawers below a wardrobe. It was all falling apart, but well loved. On the bed were a few soft toys, a couple of bears, a cat, like any other teenage girl. It was closely packed together, but there was a corridor just wide enough to let someone get from one side of the room to the other.

"It seems so…normal." Muttered Martha.

Kit flew over, landing on the bed, and a cloud of dust rose up from it. She spluttered, but then went to investigate the bears as Martha took a closer look at the wall. She bit her lip with surprise as she did so. It was covered in photographs, black and white, sepia, and pictures. They started with a woman, a baby, and, by all intents and purposes, the Doctor. Then there was the smiling couple, and a pint-sized Ruby. Then, when she seemed about five or six, it was just Ruby and the Doctor. Or, rather, Isobel and Arthur Ramsay. Martha could tell what had happened to the mother, by putting her into the context of the time, but Isobel and Arthur seemed to try and keep their heads up, and it pulled at her heartstrings. Although, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. She turned to Kit, who had come back to her.

"What do you think happened?"

The rain had passed, and the Doctor, Ruby, Lucy and Jane, were sitting in the parlour adjacent to the kitchen. Normal work had resumed behind them, and Ellen was leading it, else she would have been with them. All four stared at the raindrops trickling down the window as the sun shone brightly overhead.

"April showers." Murmured Lucy.

"Never had 'em so bad til Lord Scott came in." huffed Jane.

"You're just being superstitious Janey." Teased Lucy.

So far, all that Ruby and the Doctor had gathered was that Lord Scott was a rich widower from London, who had always been keen on the Lawrence family, or at least, was always skulking around them. Josephine's husband had died of tuberculosis before they had a chance to have any children, which was where Isobel and Arthur Ramsay, "not the richest, but the decent sort" had come in. Arthur had been looking for work to support his little daughter after her mother had died. The second Josephine had seen the child, making a daisy chain, she had fallen in love with her, and they got a job right away.

Lord Scott seemed to up his visits to the house since then. His visits tailed off again a few years later, when all Josephine's means of support and hope had been passed on to Isobel, and the servants that the girl had made her pay closer attention to.

"I'm glad you're back Izzy." Concluded Jane, "Maybe you can get things back to normal."

The Doctor and Ruby exchanged a glance as the two girls were called away. They supposed they had better get a move on themselves, the garden needed a lot of tending, which was apparently, their speciality. The Doctor really didn't have much of a green thumb, and Ruby was thoroughly confused, so they didn't seem to have much hope. Even so, they stood up, walking out into the garden, deciding the best place to start was where they had arrived. As they walked, they admired the scenery, although somewhat overgrown, it was still beautiful. The Doctor turned to Ruby, much to the girl's surprise.

"What do you think is going on?" he queried.

The girl shrugged, "It's the Victorian era, right?" the Doctor nodded, "Seems to be that Mrs Lawrence has a lot of money, and Lord Scott wants it. It would be his through marriage. But this Isobel was teaching Mrs Lawrence to look outside the box, and if her mind was opened, it would post a threat to Lord Scott."

"So you think Lord Scott arranged the disappearance of the pair?" pressed the Doctor.

"It would make sense."

"That's about what I figured too. Well done,"

Odd choice of words, but Ruby shrugged it off and carried on walking with him. It was another few minutes before he addressed her again, and it took a moment for her to realise he was doing so, she was in awe of all that she saw.

"Pardon?" she said suddenly, turning to him, realising he had been speaking.

"I said, where do you think we should start? Might as well make ourselves useful until Martha can get back to us."

"First thing's first." said Ruby, surprising the Doctor at how sure she sounded. "We need to get the bind weeds and others out of the beds. They'll choke the life out of the other plants." The Doctor smirked at her, and she shrugged, embarrassed, "No-one else would do the garden at home."

There were two men sitting in one of the living rooms of the house. It was a grand affair, royal blue carpets and walls, with mahogany panelling, expensive portraits of the family, works of art, enough space to house a small country, antiques here and there, glimmers of glamour, just like visiting an old country house owned by the National Trust, but it was alive. The men were arranged neatly on two plush sofas that matched the rest of the decor. One of them was Lord Scott, and another was a short, round, red-faced man with receding grey hair, squinty watery grey eyes, who suddenly spat out the whiskey he had been drinking.

"They're _back_?!" he hollered, "I thought you had sorted them!"

"So did I." grumbled Lord Scott, "Then they waltzed in to the kitchen, large as life."

"This could be a nuisance. The girl?"

"Slightly odd, but largely how I remember her."

"It's impossible, just impossible!"

"Clearly, that's not true." Scott said dryly.

"You know what implications that girl coming back has?!" cried the short man, Lord Byron Fancy.

"Well of course I do. She could see right through us."

"Then get rid of her. _Effectively_ this time."

"I will. Trust me."

The maid that was stoking the fire nearby blanched, but kept her hands stiffly working, knowing full well they would think her too simple to have been bothered about listening to their conversation. She brushed her hands off on her apron, and the blonde-haired girl hurried out after a quick bow to each man.

Martha and Kit had ventured out after hearing familiar voices pass them, on route to one of the sheds that actually was a shed. After taking a cautious glance around, they darted out, almost crashing into Ruby and the Doctor. The Doctor was carrying a fork and shovel, and Ruby was reeling off jobs that needed doing, for once knowing the most about their position.

"Martha!" cried the girl, relieved. "Are you ok? I was wondering if you got soaked or went back to the Tardis or something."

Martha was quite surprised by the girl's concern. Sure they got on fine, but they weren't always best of friends, both being very independent in their own right, and testing the Doctor in their own little ways, whilst simultaneously trying to come top of the class themselves. Clearly, the other two were just as stunned, Ruby most of all. Kit flew on over to her, and she quickly turned her attention to petting the little creature.

"I'm fine. Found something the two of you might be interested in though."

"You did?"

Martha motioned behind her, after looking around to check that nobody was following them. She found herself leading the others back the way she had just come, towards the hut. Only this time something seemed different. There was the track of trampled weeds that Martha had created, but there was a second one, around the back, heading for the window of the room she had been in before.

She motioned for the others to shush, and crept over, on her knees, listening to where footsteps came from, to judge when she looked up. As she did, she peered over the bottom of the window, which had been forced open. Lord Scott was rifling through the drawers and wardrobe, looking for something.

"Not here…can't be…where the hell did it go?"

He spun around, just as Martha and Ruby, clutching Kit, who had joined her, as the Doctor was still incapacitated with the garden implements, ducked out of harm's way. Deciding it was best not to be around for him to find them finding him snooping, they disappeared to the path where they had met up, and the Doctor filled Martha in as they headed to an over grown rose garden.

"So, your everyday Victorian mystery then?" stated Martha dryly.

"On the surface. But things are never that simple, as we all know well."

At the roses, Martha tossed the Doctor his sonic screwdriver as he dumped down the fork and shovel. Ruby immediately got to work, dragging out weeds, as he took a scan of the area with the sonic screwdriver, and frowned. There was an irregular reading, and he didn't seem to like what it read. Almost as in disbelief, he took a reading again, and then scanned Martha.

"Hey! Cut that out!" demanded the woman indignantly.

"That place you showed us. I'm guessing you went inside?" he asked.

"I thought you could get that from the dry clothes."

He nodded. "Thought so."

"Why? What?"

The Doctor held up his screwdriver. "Dust particles. They sure as the nose on my face, do not originated on the third rock from the sun."

"Alien? This house has aliens?"

"You make it sound like we should call pest control." Ruby commented lightly.

They were both taken quite aback by what they saw when they turned around. The girl had already yanked out bindweed, nettles and thistles. There was dirt on her cheeks from her hands, and grass stains on her jeans from kneeling. But it was clear.

"Never knew you were a gardener." smiled Martha.

Ruby grinned, "There are a lot of things you don't know about me." she winked.

Martha took it in as play, and responded as such by laughing, but something in both her and the Doctor clicked when she said that. She'd only been with them on what, 3 missions? As opposed to the year or so they had spent with each other, and they had never bothered with breaking her in, just picked up where they left off before, with a new girl in tow.

"Hey, Doctor." continued Ruby, not taking notice of the fallen faces of her friends, as she had her back to them, "You're a tall guy."

She turned around, and whipped pruning shears out of her jeans pocket. How long they'd been there, they didn't really know. She held them up to the Doctor, and then pointed at the dark purple rose bush in the centre of all of them, which was taller than the Doctor.

"Old growth at the bottom, needs to come off." She said oh-so-pleasantly.

"Yes ma'm!" the Doctor replied brightly, taking the chance to get to know his strange part-alien 'daughter'. "I need to think how those particles got here."

"Is there anything I can do?" offered Martha.

"Yes indeed." She pointed at the bed behind the woman, which was crawling with bindweed. "Yank that out."

Martha pulled a face, "If only I had my heels on…"

As the three of them set to work, to kill some time whilst thinking of ways to trace the strange dust, Jane was all atwitter in the servant's quarters, in the room she shared with her sister. As soon as she had heard what Lord Scott had said, she ran through the house to track her down, and was panting, and red-cheeked as she spoke.

"Lord Scott wants to get rid of Izzy!" she garbled, "Apparently he's done it before, but she came back!"

"Why didn't she tell us?" replied Lucy urgently.

"You know she wouldn't want to trouble us." gasped Jane as she was handed a glass of water. "He was talking to Mr…sorry, Lord, Fancy. They're cooking up something Lou, and it ain't broth!"

The siblings remained silent for a while. They had wondered why their friend hadn't divulged more about what was going on for the past six months. Just that she had some business to attend to, pressing business. Now it looked like two of the most powerful men in society were out to get a seventeen year old gardener's girl. The older sister tried to prod her brain into coming up with a plan as she changed sheets and folded clothes, it was her turn. Eventually, she turned to Jane and looked at her.

"Here's what we do. You tell Ellen that Scott is up to something." She paused, smoothing a pillow, "She'll soon get the girls to keep an eye on him, you know how protective everyone is of the Mistress."

"Someone has to be, since the Master died." Murmured Jane.

"If we can collaborate…" she paused at Jane's blank look. "Um, if we bring everything together, maybe we can see him off at the pass."

"And get rid of him altogether?" Jane's eyes were shining.

"We can hope." Replied her sister, grimfaced. "You know as well as I, the sooner he's not sniffing around, the better it is for all of us."

"I can't find it anywhere." Grumbled Lord Scott.

He was talking to himself. Or that was how it seemed anyway, as he was staring at a mirror in the guest bedroom he often occupied now. It was the best room, naturally. It was decorated in burgundy and terracotta, giving it a warm feel, although the curtains were closed and the light was dim. Off it there was an en suite bathroom, and the latch on the door had locked it, for privacy. Clearly, he didn't want to be interrupted.

"That wench must have been a step ahead." He hissed at the mirror.

"Look, that doesn't matter." The mirror replied, "Just keep her away from the woman."

"Oh, she's been out most of the day in town." Lord Scott rolled her eyes, "Didn't expect anything less. Her favourite comes back, so naturally she's buying an expensive gift."

The mirror laughed. But it wasn't the object itself. Instead of Lord Scott's own reflection answering him, it was none other than Lord Fancy. His face seemed to morph and writhe, sometimes he looked like more than one person from slightly different angles, and then his eyes seemed to be surrounded in shadow, almost demonic.

"Oh well, let her have her fun, whilst she lasts." The mirror cackled as Lord Scott smiled wickedly, and then he was looking at himself.

There was a gentle rap on the door. The man hid his annoyance and regained his calm, collected demeanour, as he flipped open the catch, and turned the handle. A little red-headed round-cheeked maid looked at the floor as he answered it, and she was holding a basket of logs.

"Replenish your fire, sir?" she said shyly.

"Yes, fine, get on with it."

He waved her in and she meekly went over to the fireplace, the other side of the room to the mirror. Of course, she'd heard him talking, but she saw no-one else in the area, so didn't make anything of it. Children should be seen and not heard in her opinion, and maids barely seen anyway. She took an unusually long time to do everything, she kept fumbling, and Lord Scott sighed exasperatedly. But he decided to keep his cool, she was probably knew. When she finally finished, she curtsied to him.

"Ellen was wondering if you wanted any refreshment sir…" she said quietly, fixated on her shoes.

"Yes, tea would be nice. I need to think."

"Course sir, certainly sir. In your room sir?"

"Take it to the library."

"Yes sir."

She curtsied again and backed out of the room. She met another maid coming out, and gave her a smile and nod. So, they were already doing their bit were they? Ellen really was organised.

The garden was looking much better after the three of them had tackled it. Every person who came by had been giving Martha funny looks, not recognising her, or her clothes. A few of them even seemed to sneer, but they were soon waved off by glares from the Doctor and Ruby, although the politer ones were introduced to her as an old friend who was visiting to help. Considering everything that was going on, it became the latest gossip. It even reached Josephine as she came in from town. Jane and Lucy were immediately intrigued, knowing more than most about what might be happening. Was Izzy gathering friends from outside to help with the situation? It would require investigation.

"I'm not used to all this fresh air, working in a hospital." Grinned Martha.

The three of them, grass-stained and dirt-smudged, were taking a time out, sitting on one of the benches in the sun, the downpour seemed to have passed. The Doctor suddenly stood up, startling both of his companions, and Kit, into almost falling off their perches.

"Scehele!" he exclaimed. "The Scehele! That's where the readings come from, I recognise the elements!"

"Beg pardon?" Martha asked, as her and Ruby gave him blank looks.

"That weird dust. I knew I recognised the combinations of the elements from somewhere. They're a race of aliens that pick a target, and bleed it dry, to get the energy."

"That's…not pleasant." Ruby pulled a face.

"Thing is…who are they targeting?"

As if on cue, Josephine Lawrence appeared over the horizon, holding a parasol. She spotted the three friends and made a beeline for them, focusing on Ruby, although not ignoring the others. Ruby, if stiffly, bowed, and Martha followed suit to be polite, swiftly hiding Kit inside her jacket, but the Doctor was on a whole other planet.

"Hello Isobel dear!" greeted the woman warmly, "Arthur, good to see you…and this is?" she looked at Martha.

"My friend Martha." Intercepted Ruby before the afore mentioned could respond to the look she had given. "We grew up together, practically sisters."

She was lying through her teeth, and the Tardis crew knew it, but her words had the effect she was after on Josephine. Her scowl dropped and she looked genuinely happy to meet Martha, offering her a dazzling smile.

"I do hate to trouble you my dear." She continued, looking at Ruby. "But it's been so long…I was wondering if you could play for us? The girls are itching to hear you."

"Uh…but…I'm covered in muck." The girl replied, embarrassed.

"Oh, not to worry love," assured Josephine, "Just scrub the worst of it up. I'll silence anyone who comments."

"Heh, thanks." The girl chuckled.

"Arthur, Martha, it would be lovely if you joined us." Beamed the woman, pleased to be playing hostess.

"Well, that would be lovely." Answered the Doctor clearly.

Martha gave him a look that seemed to say "what the hell are you playing at?" before she realised what he was aiming to do. The closer they were to the people in the house, the easier it would be to find their target. She slowly nodded, and they all trooped off, back into the house. Unbeknownst to them however, they were being trailed. Something seemed to move behind them, but it kept changing shape and disappearing, like an optical illusion.

"Come Isobel. You can borrow my room to wash up, I know yours is a way away." Offered Josephine.

Ruby looked as astounded as every other servant that happened to be their. The Mistress' room? That was unheard of, except to change the beds or stoke the fire. They were clearly all jealous, they adored the Mistress, she treated them all kindly and fairly. But they knew that Isobel had a special place in her heart, and she had been in before they supposed, to help with hair and make up. But still. It was only a momentary thing though. They soon forgave her, nobody could stay mad at Izzy for long.

"Um, thank you."

"You play?" hissed Martha in her ear.

"Apparently." Came the answer.

Ruby had no idea where she was going as she wandered through the house. But eventually she found where she needed to be. Simply because the door was left open, and there were clean clothes on the bed, in her size, and a bowl of warm water, which was scented with lavender. The whole thing was rather surreal. She gingerly closed the door and washed her arms, face and hands. As she peered into the water, she got a rather nasty shock. There was another reflection, behind her own. It was blurry, a kind of gold colour, but she saw the eyes. She yelped and spun around. There was nobody there.

"Old houses give me the creeps!" she whined quietly to herself, "Even when they're not old yet."

She turned to the clean clothes, not daring to look in the water again. A cold chill went over her shoulders, soon followed by a warm rush. She hurriedly struggled into the garments. Or rather, garment. Martha would have a field day. It was a long pale blue dress, simple, with some embroidery around the bodice. She noticed with a shudder it gave her cleavage she didn't have, and there were silk slippers to match it. She sighed and rolled her eyes. If she was to look like a doll, she might as well go all out.

She whipped off her socks and sneakers, and slipped her feet into what seemed like ballet shoes. She couldn't have been less herself if she tried. The dress was short sleeved, allowing for summer, and she noticed with a wince she had scratches on her hands and up one arm from the roses, and the pink strands of her hair clashed terrible with the dress. Oh well. They'd have to take her as she came. She tentatively took off her bandana, and wrapped it around her wrist, more of a good luck charm than anything.

As she walked out, along the corridors, she had the strange sense of knowing exactly where she was going.

"Oh…my."

Martha's jaw dropped as a very uncomfortable looking Ruby wandered into the music room, clearly trying to stop herself fidgeting or trying to adjust the bodice. As much as she hated what she was wearing, she looked beautiful. Even the Doctor was momentarily lost for words.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" cooed Josephine. "I knew it would suit you! Although, your hair dear…we may have to talk about that."

"Yes ma'm." mumbled Ruby, staring intently at the floor.

Josephine propelled her forwards towards a grand piano, passed the awed gazes of footmen and servants, and even Lord Scott, who leered at her in a way the Doctor really did not like. Martha caught his arm to stop him from knocking the noble's teeth out. A few of the younger maids caught this and ducked their heads to hide giggles. Ruby sat herself down at the piano, rearranging her dress so it didn't fluff up around her.

"Lucy!" called Jane as she hurried to the kitchen, "Helen said that when she went to do the fire, Lord Scott was having a conversation with himself, and answering it. But in a different voice." She squawked, "Then Vanessa took him tea and he almost ripped her locket off her neck. Then apologised, said he thought it was something else. He's acting real funny." She said, worried.

"D'ya think…" begun Ellen.

"No, no, I doubt it." sighed Lucy as she hung up clean aprons. "Not him." She turned to her sister, "Did you get it?"

The girl nodded. She tentatively held up a heavy silver chain from around her neck, on the end was a locket in the shape of a large tear drop. It had some kind of strange symbol engraved on it, and a secure latch. So secure in fact that nobody could open it. Or, at least nobody who had tried so far. The symbols looked almost like hieroglyphics, but they were more rounded and intricate.

"Izzy always said if something strange happened, I should get it." said Jane with a sigh. "I just wish she told me more."

"So do I sweetpea." comforted Lucy.

Ellen saw the wistful look they gave each other before turning away and staring out into nothing. She felt a rush of sympathy for them. They were good girls, always had been, and she'd known them even since Lucy was tiny. Jane had always been shy and distanced herself from everyone until Isobel Ramsay arrived on the scene. She clung to the girl like glue, coaxing her out of her shell, and punching anyone who tried to confront or demean her. Izzy had always been like that, for everyone.

Ellen had once been as timid as a mouse, always put upon by her superiors, and picked on. But a word from the girl, and the head maid, leader of the gang against her, had been fired. Ellen had taken her place. Josephine had been drawn and weary constantly, until the tiny little girl arrived on her doorstep, and clung to her skirts, mistaking her for her mother. Nobody got on so well with each other without her around, keeping an eye on things. She glanced over at the clock, and then turned to the girls.

"Go along ladies. It's your break time. You've done more work than most today. Go and find your friends."

She didn't wait to hear any arguments, just waved them out of the door. As they walked, they stopped, and looked up in unison. They both thought they had seen something out of the corner of their eyes, a big, dark shape that looked familiar, but sent chills down their spine. Subconsciously, Jane clutched the locket, and it suddenly felt warm. She turned in surprise, positive she had just seen a shimmery gold shadow chase the big one. She was also positive, that it _winked_ at her. She clutched Lucy's arm.

"Did you see that Luce?" she whispered, her voice high pitched.

"Yes." Replied her sister bleakly.

"What was it?"

"No idea."

They linked arms with each other, slowly carrying on their way past the flower patterned wallpaper, and the dark, wine-red, carpets. If a guest so happened to accidentally stumble into the corridors used for servants, at least they would still be impressed. There was even a cut-glass chandelier above them, although it was off, for now the only light in the corridor was a watery one from a murky old window at the far end.

As they got closer to the door leading to a narrow staircase that led them to a tiny room behind the music room; from which they could reach any of three further rooms, depending on where they were needed; they heard something they hadn't heard in a while.

"Is that a piano?"

It was. The sound was muted by the thick walls, but they could make out a strange, detached, tune, that was almost mournful, but beautiful to listen to. From the few piano lessons that Izzy had sneaked in for Jane, under the giggling, watchful eye of the mistress as she covered for them, she could tell one line was almost all off the beat, very tricky to play. There were trills and dynamics, that even in that dingy box they were stuck in, sunk straight through the girls.

"That's Izzy. No other explanation." declared Jane proudly.

"Hush." Lucy smiled and put a finger to her lips.

There was a hole in a knot of the wood that made the door. Only one person could look through at a time, and Jane snuck a peak through it, whilst Lucy pressed her ear to the door, dearly hoping nobody else would be using it.

In the music room, everyone was completely silent. Everyone except Ruby, who was the one playing the piano. The women had tears in their eyes, and even Martha sniffled a bit, though she promptly wiped her cheeks before the Doctor looked around, he had already spotted her however. The most amazing thing was, that there was no music on the stand. She was playing completely from memory, in a zone of her own.

"I wonder if she'll teach me that when we get back to the Tardis." The Doctor whispered to Martha.

"You have a piano?" replied his companion, in a similarly low voice.

"It can soon be arranged."

But things weren't as pleasant as they seemed. In the kitchen, poor Ellen watched in disbelief. From every crack in the woodwork, the brickwork, the plaster, the glass, something black, like smoke, was drifting out, gathering together. She was completely paralysed, and not solely because of fear. Two of the tendrils had come out of the wall, and wrapped around her wrists. It trickled in to her nose and throat so she couldn't make any sound.

A shadow loomed all over the house, from the main gates, through the gardens, every room. Clouds hid the feeble light from the sun, everything the darkness touched started to wilt, losing petals and leaves, dying. From the tallest tree, to the smallest weed. The only thing that fought through was a single wild red rose, near the wrought iron gates. It was the last thing the gardener girl had touched before she vanished.

Nothing detected the silence, as the shadows covered everything in obscurity, constantly changing shape, and sealing itself in the doors and windows, locking them. In the kitchen, Ellen caved in, and sunk to her knees. Just as she passed out, she saw a slight haze in front of her, and was positive it was a hand reaching out to her. It was the last thing her eyes glimpsed before everything went black.

"Poor Ellie…" came a ghostly voice.

The only one that noticed anything was wrong was The Doctor. He was hyper-sensitive to that sort of thing. He had promptly forgotten the issue at hand, lost in the spell created by the piano. He noticed that nobody was moving a muscles, and in fact, they seemed to be wilting. Martha was amongst them. The only reason it wasn't happening faster was clear to an outsider, viewing the house. The window outside the music room was proving difficult to get into. Every time a shadow darted forwards, it rebounded off a gold force field. The piano rung out throughout the whole building as thing perished.

"Martha." hissed the Doctor. "Stay with me, Martha."

The woman was slowly sinking against him. It was a gradual process, like a blown up toy deflating. On the surface, she looked completely normal, like she was enjoying the music. But inside, she was shutting down. She could feel herself, losing memories, reason, just like everybody else in the room. Kit had darted out of her pocket, twittering and chirruping in alarm. Her host turned to the Doctor.

"What's happening to me?"

Nobody else seemed to hear her. They were all lost in their own little fantasies. The Doctor wrapped his arms around Martha, and held up his sonic screwdriver. It flashed manically. The Scehele energy was everywhere. But he frowned. There was something different. A door behind him suddenly burst open, and Jane and Lucy tumbled into the room. They scrambled up, away from something. They saw everyone in the room, and panicked. The Doctor seemed to be the only solid thing their bleary eyes could see. They hurried over, as best they could, and looked at him.

"Mr Ramsay! What's going on?!" pleaded Jane.

"I'm _not_ Mr Ramsay." Replied the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor, this is Martha."

"Izzy?" she said desperately.

Ruby was completely consumed by the music. Or rather, the effects of the Scehele. She didn't see or hear anything else. Josephine was right behind her, from the back, they looked just like mother and child. Martha, along with two of the others, slumped. The Doctor caught her, and Jane and Lucy shrieked as two bodies fell down in front of them.

"Martha!" cried the Doctor, "Martha, Martha! Come on, come back to me!"

The force outside the window was weakening. Smaller ropes of darkness threaded their way through as their opponent struggled to keep them out. Jane hurried forwards to help The Doctor as he had difficulty holding up his companion. Lucy went the other side of her. The sonic screwdriver honed in on the sisters, or rather, Jane. The Doctor turned on her, as she finally realised Kit was behind him.

"What's that?!"

"You! What's different about you?!"

"I…er…I…." stammered the girl.

"Never mind. We should get out of here!"

Supporting Martha between them, the three of them ran across the huge music room, heading for the door. Jane suddenly stopped, and turned back. Another person fell. Only one or two others, among them Lord Scott, Ruby, and Josephine. Lucy and the Doctor looked at her in unison, annoyed.

"Izzy! Izzy! You have to get out of here!" she called, in vain.

"That girl is _not_ Izzy!" the Doctor's voice was a mixture of anger and guilt.

"What?! Of course she is! Only Izzy can play that song! I'd know her anywhere." Jane's eyes were misting up.

"Her name is Ruby Arduino. I dragged her into this, same way I did Martha, and that didn't exactly work out so great. To answer your earlier question." He briefly nodded towards Kit, "That's Kit, Ruby's pet."

"But!" protested Jane, although her argument was fading. "But…even if she's not Izzy! You can't leave your daughter behind!"

"She's…" the Doctor was completely lost for words. "She's…not my daughter." His voice tailed off.

The look on Lucy and Jane's faces was nothing but disbelief. They would have bet money on the pair of them being related, not necessarily their appearance, but the relationship between them. The Doctor couldn't meet their eyes. He had felt responsible for Ruby from the word go. She was so young, inexperienced, but she took time traveling and aliens in her stride, never once letting on anything frightened her.

The girl in question was having a hard time of it. She couldn't stop her fingers moving, or the feeling that she was being possessed. It was like something was being pulled out of her, fighting off some enemy she couldn't even comprehend, and she was aware of it. She was alert to everything. Josephine, so close to her, Lord Scott, miles away. She felt every person in the room with her, and there were differences about all of them. She was with Ellen when she went collapsed; she could smell the single rose standing up to the darkness. She could perceive different emotions coming from each room. There was that single, tiny blot of white in the darkness, near Jane, and although she had no idea what it was, she clung to it.

It was working exactly as Lord Scott had wanted it to. No one could handle all that information, all the hopes and fears of everyone around them, and not just everyone, but everything. The life was smothered out of the garden, the decay threaded throughout the building where the Scehele had already conquered. It was like being in hell. Lord Scott knew she would soon buckle under the pressure. Even as she kept up her piano, her eyes were wide with terror, and her skin was pale.

"What's happening to her?!" cried Lucy, "She looks ill!"

"I don't know, I don't know!" exclaimed the Doctor, frustrated.

"Izzy!!"

Jane leapt forwards to go to her aid, but a hand grabbed the back of her dress, and pulled her away again. She looked over her shoulder to find Lucy staring at her intently, in a way that only a sister could.

"We'll come back for her. We have to go! We're no good if we're vegetables!"

"Your sister is right."

Jane fell still again, realizing that she was outvoted. Glumly, she ran towards the door to open it. As soon as her hands touched the handle, she let out a shriek, as black lightning sprung up from it. She staggered backwards, only avoiding falling because The Doctor grabbed her elbow.

"Locked it. They've locked it!"

"Why? Who's they?!"

"The cause of all this. The Scehele. From a whole other planet." He explained.

"Me."

A familiar voice boomed over to them. They all turn around; to find Lord Scott standing only a few inches away from them, with the sneer of a madman, and the glittering eyes to match. Jane clutched the Doctor's hand, and Lucy put an arm around Martha's waist to keep her upright.

"Who are you targeting?!" demanded the Doctor, "Why do you need to take all these people down too?!"

"Just call them a little bonus." the man laughed gruffly. "Do you know how much energy has been generated in this house?" he questioned. When there came no reply, he carried on. "It's enough to feed us for weeks. Bring us back to full power. You know something else, Doctor?" still silence. "It all came from one, single, person."

"Izzy!!" shrieked Jane.

Ruby suddenly snapped back to reality. In the window opposite her, she saw the ghostly gold figure of…Amber? No, that was impossible. It was a split second thing. The girl suddenly dove to the right, and Ruby followed suit. The piano stopped abruptly, the window shattering, and everyone woke up, as the Scehele burst into the last defense.


	5. Violets Are Blue

Violets are Blue

Violets are Blue

It all happened in a flurry. There was screaming and shouting, and people ran towards the doors to try and get out. Lord Scott was surrounded by the dark energy streaming in to the house with what sounded like high pitched wails, of fear and pain, and grew and grew. His body became one huge shadow, and the shadows of everything else in the room disappeared, joining him.

"Oh my god! What's happening?!" cried a maid,

"It's the end of the world!" spluttered another.

They struggled and cried, screaming, shouting, and kicking their neighbours as they clawed at doors, windows, anything that might give them sweet relief as the demonic animal in front of them edged towards them. The only people behind him were Josephine, her legs failing to work as she knelt dumbly on the floor, and Ruby, who was just not uncurling herself from the ball she had thrown herself into to break the fall.

"Doctor! Do something! Open the door!" demanded Martha urgently.

"Ruby! Josephine! Are you ok?!" called the Doctor.

The girl stiffly looked up, and nodded through the smoky haze. Jane and Lucy were valiantly trying to get everyone to calm down, hugging some close to tears, arguing with people thinking irrationally that God's wrath had fallen upon them. Lord Scott, as was, laughed, and held out his hands. Phantom ropes wrapped around people's throats and they choked and gasped, trying to struggle free.

"Move!" hollered the Doctor.

He barged through arms and shoulders and legs to the door. He reset his sonic screwdriver, and held it up to the lock. It opened with a click and everyone tumbled through in mass hysteria. Josephine was still too stunned to move. As tendrils came towards her and Ruby, the girl grabbed her hand, yanking her to her feet.

"Get a move on!" she demanded, "Ma'm." she added, remembering to be polite.

The pair of them started running over to the others, only Martha and the Doctor were waiting outside the door for them, when Lord Scott suddenly turned 180 degrees, and faced them. Ruby panicked as Josephine shrieked, and shoved her past the monster just as he moved towards them.

"You've given me enough grief girl." snarled the shadow-beast.

Ruby squeaked as she ducked a swipe from him, batting away vainly at shadows. Kit twittered and chirruped in panic, before ducking to hide in Martha's jacket. The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver, but it didn't make any difference. It wasn't a living being now, as such. Ruby noticed this, and took a deep breath. She scrambled to her feet, and then shot forward, barrelling _through_ Lord Scott, who howled in pain. It was like moving through mud, she felt like she was falling as icy coldness surrounded her. A warm hand grabbed her own, and The Doctor yanked her the rest of the way, whilst Martha tended to Josephine.

"You little witch!" growled Scott, "Just you wait til I get my hands on you!"

She was pushed through the door as The Doctor left it behind them. But they knew it wouldn't work well. Ribbons of shadows and blackness were wavering from every nook and cranny in the house as Lord Scott made about reforming himself, although Ruby's effect on him seemed to have made him smaller, but they just ran.

"Doctor! We can't fight something that's not there!" cried Martha.

"I know that."

"Izzy!"

Jane hurried forwards, and grabbed a startled Ruby's arm. The second she did, there was something like a static shock, and she yelped, as the locket, as if magnetised, wrenched itself over to Ruby, who caught it neatly in her spare hand. Behind her, something suddenly materialised, taking even The Doctor by surprise.

"Um, hello."

Ruby, realising something was going on, and turned around. Her jaw dropped open as she came face to face with herself. She blinked, trying to see if she was imagining it, but it was the same girl who's broken her out of the spell of the Scehele, she was sure.

"Amber?" she whispered.

The gold silhouette of herself shook her head, she was like a drawing, just an outline, and the lines burned as brightly as a candle. "I'm not Amber. I'm Isobel, Isobel Ramsay."

"I…Izzy?" Jane and Lucy, who had rejoined them, stared at her in disbelief.

"Who are you?!" questioned Martha.

"Where have you been?!" added Ruby.

"Lord Scott. He killed my physical body. My current one, at the time."

"Current?" Ruby looked slightly pale, and clung on to Kit, who had suddenly appeared in the hustle.

"He killed you?!" exclaimed Jane, watery eyed, "You're a ghost?"

"Um, no…not as such." If possible, the golden girl looked sheepish.

"Riovaus!" cried The Doctor, "You're a Riovaus!"

Isobel's face lit up as she realised he would be able to explain things a lot better than she would. The Riovaus were like guardian angels, he began, patrolling the solar systems and keeping order, by acting as mediators, or body guards. They're few in number, and largely ethereal, but every now and then, when something very pressing comes up, they could take on physical form.

"Which is what I did." nodded Isobel, "The Scehele have always been our enemies. They're negative versions of ourselves."

"Demons?" breathed Lucy, clutching Jane's hand.

"If you take that perspective, yes." agreed the Doctor, "Riovaus are Angels and Scehele are Demons."

Ruby kept silent. Finally, she didn't have to pretend to be somebody else. Filled with relief, she whipped out her bandana, tying it securely around her head, so there would be no mixing up her and Isobel. It was the same way she'd let people differentiate between her and Amber, back home. What they still didn't have however, was a solution to the Scott problem. Isobel's presence was temporarily keeping him at bay, but she was nowhere near as large or powered up as him.

"What's this then?" asked Ruby, holding up the necklace.

Isobel looked delighted, "It's a key!" she said happily,

"To…what?" pressed her mirror image.

"I don't know just yet. Therein lies the problem." Isobel said sadly, "I don't have a physical form, and I can't have one again for another hundred years. So I can't touch or use it even if we knew what it did."

"We're screwed." stated Martha plainly.

As if in agreement, they heard the distinct sound of a door shattering, and they looked around them to find that shadows were reaching out towards them again. Isobel's presence was wearing off, so they just moved very slowly, but were still trying to attack. The group took their cue and fled, Isobel drifted in front of them, seeming to know just where they should be going. They flew up flight after flight of stairs, panting and aching, it was more difficult for Jane, Lucy, Josephine and Ruby, all who had skirts tangling around their ankles. Josephine tripped and fell, but The Doctor caught her arm and kept a hold of it as they kept going up.

"I don't think I can cope going much higher." Ruby gulped.

Isobel turned to face her, "You're afraid of heights?" Ruby nodded. "Oh no…" Isobel looked crestfallen.

"Oh no?!" squeaked Ruby, panic rising in her throat, "I don't like the sound of that oh no! Take it back please!" her heart was starting to race even harder. "With a cherry on top?!"

Her legs started to go like jelly, and her skin was clammy with terror. She would have stopped right there and melted, but Martha grabbed her hand and looked straight into the frightened girl's eyes.

"Ruby. You've been captured by pigs, turned dragons on their masters, dealt with cliffs and wolves, and kept your cool when confronted with things most people have never imagined, let alone seen, not even let out a peep, and you're seventeen years old. You know there's much more than that to come, and still you're here. What's a staircase to that?" Ruby was speechless, "I'll keep a hold of you, ok? Trust me."

Ruby stared at her, had they just had a moment? Then, slowly she nodded. The splintering of another door behind them caused all of them to turn backwards. Isobel floated in front of them, panicking.

"We have to go!" she cried urgently.

The party set off again, and they realised what Isobel's oh no had been about. The staircase became a spiral as they ran through an arch, and it was icy cold, the windows were open slats in the tower. It was narrow, slippery, and high. They all clung to each other for support, both physical and moral, and eventually came to a creaky old wooden door, with iron studs. Isobel flew straight through it, and Jane was about to, before Lucy pulled her back, they were corporeal. The girl laughed sheepishly, and with a click, the door swung open.

"Wow." muttered Martha.

"Isobel, you're a genius!" congratulated The Doctor.

He had deliberately stayed quiet when it came to Ruby, sensing that it was a moment for her and Martha to connect more. But now, he was back in full swing, as they looked around the room. Two fireplaces, candlesticks in the centre, candelabras on the wall. No furniture, except a single chest of drawers, and a rug. Getting the idea, Lucy, Jane and Josephine all hurried around, lighting every candle and lamp they could get their hands on, it was a maid's prerogative to always have matches handy, and lucky for the group, there were two of them present.

"Forgive my ignorance, I think the sanity and logic that I left somewhere back at the bottom of the stairs is taking its time returning, but, I still don't get it." Ruby did genuinely look blank.

"The Scehele are essentially shadows. Bad-tempered, powerful, grumpy shadows, but shadows none the less." explained The Doctor. "The more light there is in a room, the weaker their hold. Back in the rest of the house the light is limited, for a certain mood I suspect. Here, well, see for yourself."

See she did. Everywhere there were candles burning, sending out scattering and patterns of light into every corner of the room. It was so bright; she could clearly make out everybody's features, down to the details on their clothes. She knew it wouldn't last forever, but it would give them time enough to think. There was complete silence, and it was Jane who broke it, much to everyone's surprise.

"Everyone's thinking it, I'm just saying it. Now what?" she looked to The Doctor.

He had already swiped the locket out of Ruby's hand, and was examining it with his sonic screwdriver. Everyone was nervously scattered around, waiting for him to save the day, like he always did, but even he was stumped this time. He growled in frustration, and shoved the locket back into Ruby's hand.

"That thing is what's going to help us. But we can't get into it! Isobel, can you think of any way of overwriting the lock or something?"

Isobel shook her head, "No, not as such…"

"But?" pressed The Doctor.

"I need a physical form to open it."

"This is what we're lacking." Ruby sighed.

The whole party fell silent again, pacing around, and lost in their own thoughts. Isobel and Jane retreated to a quiet corner, and although the tone was lowered, they all knew it would be best to stay out of the way. Inwardly Ruby was battling with herself. She had been delighted when she thought Isobel was Amber. She missed her family. Martha was thinking about something else entirely, and looked up at the Doctor.

"What about Arthur?" she asked.

"What about him?" queried the Doctor, as everyone turned to listen to her.  
"If Isobel was supposed to be his daughter, was he another Riovaus?" she questioned.

Isobel had suddenly appeared next to her, making all of them jump a mile. She gave an apologetic shrug and then shook her head, sighing.

"No, Arthur was just a man. The sweetest, kindest man I've ever met. He was so lonely, that I got the Council to attach me to him when I took on physical form. He found me as a five year old girl, and adopted me." she looked at Martha, "The pictures you saw, they were fabricated. The emotion wasn't though. I suppose he was kind of a father to me…"

"What happened to him?" ventured Lucy, hesitantly.

"The Scehele happened to him." Isobel looked suitably mournful, "When they did that, my contract was up. I was bound to him by my physical form. When that bond was broken, so was my physical form."

Josephine had been silent for a long time, after their initial sprint. It was too much for her to understand and take on. This whole, meeting of things beyond human understanding, had been happening all around her, right in front of her, for twelve years, and she had been too wrapped up in her own life to notice it. What did that say about her? She had never been like that before her husband died. There were so many questions she wanted answered.

"Why here, why now?" she suddenly blurted, angry tears blurring her vision. "Why is all this happening in this house?"

Everyone exchanged glances, from Martha to Lucy to Ruby to the Doctor. Nobody had an answer to give her. The Doctor was inwardly dreading the same thing was happening here that had happened in 1913. Martha knew his fears, but not a single other person did. They were the two that had been there, not everyone else.

"The Scehele saw an opportunity." Isobel shrugged, "If they could establish control here, they would be able to influence everything. They couldn't resist."

"So they came because I was vulnerable?" answered Josephine dumbly.

"And we just made everything worse." realised Ruby.

Who could really resist the pull of a Time Lord, a time traveller, and a girl with alien DNA? The power in them alone could be enough to destroy a planet, and then some. Martha, The Doctor and Ruby looked at each other. They'd gone and done it again. Everywhere they went, trouble just seemed to attach itself to them. Ruby had learnt this already, and she hadn't been with The Doctor half as long as Martha had.

"Come on now!" declared Isobel brightly, "We can't help anyone by just sitting here lamenting," she said pointedly, "We need a plan. Your girl gave the Scehele a blow they weren't expecting, but it won't keep them down for long."

It was just what they all needed. They could see now, why Isobel had made such an impression on the household. She lit up the room, figuratively as well as metaphorically. The Doctor turned to Isobel, and put his glasses on, a signal that he meant business.

"Isobel, can you contact your Council at all? To say you need a form, because of an emergency?"

Isobel shook her head, "No. I stayed around here too long, and they exiled me. I can't get back until this mess is sorted out."

"Could you use someone else's form?"

"Possession?" Isobel raised an eyebrow, "It's generally frowned upon."

"I didn't ask that, I asked if you could do it."

The gold girl nodded, "I could, theoretically. But it would take someone extraordinary, to cope with two lives sharing the same body. It drives most people to insanity."

"Well, what about me?" he suggested, "I've shared my body with an angry sun before, and survived."

"Just barely!" protested Martha.

"Because I had you there to help." he pointed out. "Besides, an angry sun, compared to a benevolent, highly intelligent life form?"

Jane's mouth dropped open, and Lucy was stunned to silence. Josephine stood protectively by both of them. This talk was all madness, they couldn't possibly mean all three of them were from beyond existence? They must all be crazy, to talk about such things like it happened every day. Seeing Ruby as the safest option, they all turned to her for reassurance. She shrugged apologetically, they were deadly serious. They had gone through far more things than she had. She still had a hard time believing she spent her time travelling around time and space with people who were still complete strangers to her.

"Don't worry." She said kindly, confidently, "They always save the day. He saved my whole family. Trust me, ok?"

They didn't have much of an option. They had no other answers, and it wasn't just Ruby that noticed the darkness closing in on them. Martha was stubbornly against the idea, it had terrified her when The Doctor had been possessed, she didn't much want a repeat, but she knew they had no choice. She was waved back to join the others, and Lucy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, as Jane clung to Ruby, who had Josephine's arm linked in hers.

"This might hurt…" warned Isobel.  
"Better get it over and done with then."

Isobel sighed, then floated up, and stared at the Doctor for a moment, before ploughing into him. The light was so bright the audience had to cover their eyes, and The Doctor cried out as he flew backwards with the impact, landing on the floor at the women's feet. Martha and Ruby ran over to help him sit up. Kit put in a brief appearance, nudging him, before retreating back to Martha's jacket. Ruby was white as a sheet, and Martha was shaking.

"Doctor? Are you ok?" asked Martha.

"Isobel? Can you hear us?" added Ruby.

The Doctor breathed out painfully, sitting on the floor, a companion at either side of him. It was a very strange sensation. It was like he had suddenly been dragged out into a tropical island it was so hot, and he could hear thoughts and feel emotions that didn't belong to him.

"Ouch." He said finally, "Yes, I'm fine. Isobel?"

_Bearable._

No-one else could hear her, as she was speaking mind to mind with her host. When he realised this, he nodded on her behalf, and held out his hand. Ruby was about to hand over the locket, when the door imploded behind him. The girl's shrieked in fear as a human-sized spiky shadow suddenly put in an appearance. It had a gash of light down its left collar bone, a scar left by Ruby it would seem, as its faceless attention focused on her.

"What did you do?!" he half howled, and half demanded.

He lunged at her, and she scurried backwards, until the Doctor stood in front of her. The demon hissed as he touched this peculiar hybrid. The Doctor grinned triumphantly, despite the voices in his head suddenly getting louder, each time the demon tried to get at him. He could barely hear himself think.

"Get out of here!" he demanded, "I'll keep him away and catch up with you."

"We can't just leave you here!" protested Ruby.

"Do what I tell you!"

"How do we even get out of here?!"

The others had already found the answer. Outside one of the windows was a wooden trellis, trailing with ivy. It was sturdy enough for them to use as a ladder. Ruby wasn't having any of it. The staircase had been bad enough. A sheer drop down a tower, into darkness, that was freezing cold? Not a chance. Josephine, Jane and Lucy had already smashed the glass and were carefully making their way down. Martha was waiting for Ruby.

"Ruby! Come on! We need all of us to sort this problem out!" she called.

"No way. Not if hell freezes over and it's the only thing between me and certain death."

The roaring and hissing as The Doctor fought off the Scehele made sure that the scenario she had just described, was exactly what was going on now. Martha knew it too. But she knew Ruby would never act if it was simply to save herself. She disliked what she was thinking, but she could see no other way of making her move.

"What if it's the only thing between certain death, and five other people? You still going to stand around there doing nothing?!"

She knew she was being over harsh to a petrified girl. But she was scared, and frustrated, and she could see The Doctor was struggling. It did the trick however. Ruby turned away from her, too angry to even look at her, and vaulted out of the window. Martha was a split second behind her.

The air felt like pin pricks over every inch of her skin as she cautiously positioned herself to move down, and down, she couldn't see a thing. She heard what sounded like screams of the dying, so nightmarish, and terrible. She was convinced the wind was deliberately trying to pluck her off the trellis. The only reason she didn't stop dead was because she could feel Martha directly above her. What she didn't notice was that every spot she touched, suddenly sprang back to life, leaving a trail of strong, healthy grips for Martha to hold on to. It was like a streak of colour and paint, a single, if wobbly line of green on a black canvas. Yet as soon as its purpose was done, it shrivelled again. Her foot touched something solid. The ground? Not being able to see the drop had stopped her being so worried about it.

"Ruby, Martha? Are you ok?" came Jane's hushed whisper.

Suddenly a dim light stretched across the entire garden. It was like the darkness in the middle of the night, you could just make out different shades of grey. Jane and Lucy were holding up lit matches, and Ruby realised that they were the far side of the house, where she hadn't been before. It was like a large patio, but dead weeds clung to every surface, the pavement was cracked, everything from the nearby oak tree to each individual blade of grass was drained of colour, like it was ill.

"Oh my life…" gasped Martha, "What happened?"

"Every bit of life has been drained out of _everything,_" stated Lucy, worried.

The utter silence was suddenly broken. Shadows leapt up from every surface, desperately aiming for the light, like one solid stream of black. They didn't even know where they were going as they ran. It was on their tail, like a line of gunpowder that had been lit, and it seemed to gain on them. They ran, and tripped, and fell, the matches went out, but they were still being chased by what seemed to them like a trail of death, and destruction. Inanimate, but alive. They kept going, each one relying on the presence of the others to let them know they weren't lost.

"Over there! That's their house!" cried Martha. "We should be safe in there!"

"But what about your Doctor, and Isobel?" asked Jane plaintively.

Martha didn't have an answer for her. They barrelled into the tumbledown, much-loved home, and the trail stopped following them. They were protected by something. They lit what lights they could, and Jane stoked a fire. The roaring and screaming picked up again, as everything aimed for another target. Ruby's heart froze as she realised it must be The Doctor, and icy fear trickled down Martha's body.

A haggard shape came limping into the room, it was the Doctor, he looked pale, and half crazed. His clothes, hair and face were mussed and streaked with mud and blood, and his eyes, there was something manic behind them, fighting to get to the surface. Martha ran over to him, and he pulled away from her, panting.

"I'm fine. I can handle it."

Martha saw he was sweating and clammy, "You're burning up!"

"I said I'm _FINE_!!" he snapped, startling Martha into backing away from him.

The others did too, but not Ruby. Ruby stayed right where she was. The Doctor was drowning. He could feel the death of every living thing in the area surrounding them, feel and hear, just like she had done. He stumbled forwards, and she caught him, supporting him. He looked at her, only half-aware. In his minds eye, the shapes of Jane, Lucy, Martha and Josephine were warping, turning into monsters, but Ruby had never been so clear. She was struggling to hold the weight of a fully grown man, and her heart was still racing from the trial of climbing to the floor, but there was something unshakable in her.

He could take in what he'd missed before, her fervent love for her family and friends, having to keep her sister in line whilst being in her shadow, her thrill and fear at travelling throughout time and space, the bond she shared with Kit, who was like a friend and a child to her, her respect for Martha's calmness and intelligence, and understanding why she had resorted to blackmail, as well as the envy at her having seen so much more. Her delight at creating music, her hopes for the future, even her scent, roses. Standing out most of all though, was her faith in him.

"Ruby…?"

As he focused on her, the monsters started to recede, and Martha dared approach him, she had seen Ruby struggling, and was now supporting him too. He'd missed so much about her as well. Her thirst for new experiences, her confidence and sense of humour, the sisterly over protectiveness of Ruby, he dreams of helping and healing people, her intelligence, and how she loved him, but never said it. Her memories of what they had been through together, merging with those of her family, her own envy, at the protectiveness of him in regards to Ruby.

"Sorry…" he said to Martha.

She just smiled and shook her head, then Ruby handed over the locket. It blazed for a moment, but when The Doctor tried to open it, he couldn't. The reality sunk everyone's heart's like a stone. A glimmer of gold emerged, and Isobel reformed above him, then The Doctor collapsed in the arms of his faithful companions. Panic rose in Ruby's throat, she hadn't seen something get the best of him before.

"Now what do we do Martha?" she asked.

"We'll think of something."

Together they manoeuvred The Doctor onto the chair, covering him up with one of Isobel's patchwork quilts. The girl stood above him and sighed, it had been at the very least a long shot in the first place. It still didn't stop all of them feeling disappointed and hopeless though. Kit settled herself on The Doctor's stomach, her presence had been scarce, because she was frightened, and she was still a baby. But now she had somebody that needed looking after, and looking after people was something she enjoyed.

"So, anyone got a cunning plan?" declared Isobel.

"Will the Doctor be ok?" asked Ruby lamely.

"Just fine. He's simply exhausted." She looked at him, "He's been carrying his burden around for so long, it's caught up with him."

"How very… human of him." Josephine blinked, startled.

"Yea. He's really something else." there was a touch of pride in Martha's voice.

But the fact of the matter was, their plan had failed, and the only person who might be able to get them out of trouble was currently unconscious by the fire. Unbeknownst to them however, there was already something going on in his mind. He was in a sort of dream, but it seemed real. He looked around him, and saw nothing but blackness, and silence. He called out, but nobody answered him. Something like this had never happened before. Then, out of the blue, a purple blot appeared in front of him, Kit. She chirruped and twittered, like she was trying to talk to him, but he didn't understand her. There was something different about Kit though, she was bathed in a sort of gold light.

Then images swam in front of his eyes. The first thing he saw took him aback. It was Rose, she had her back to him, and was looking over her shoulder, with a mischievous smile. She turned around, and morphed into Martha, laughing at something, and moving towards him. She set off at a run, and transformed into Ruby, who ran straight passed him.

He tried to call out to her, all three of them, but he was cut off by something darting passed him, a dark red bolt, so fast it caused a sharp wind either side of it, and it was heading in the same direction as his three companions. This was no dream, it was a message. It had never been so clearly put to him that trouble was brewing, the message said danger, but he had no idea where it came from.

"Well, that was surreal." he muttered.

He didn't realise he had said it out loud, until his eyes flickered open, and he was face to face with a furry purple alien snuggled up on his chest. He turned his head as he heard murmuring, it was the women, but they had their backs to him, and didn't realise he was awake. He closed his eyes again, to try and listen to what they were saying. It seemed to be a hushed argument, so as not to wake him.

"We can't stay here forever." pointed out Lucy sharply.

"As far as we know, Scott might only have stopped to bring about something bigger. I doubt he'll let us go that easily." backed up Martha.

"What you're suggesting is madness!" cried Josephine, "Trying to get back to the house, after all the effort it took to get here?"

"Everything out there is dying!" exclaimed Jane, "Who's to say we won't just shrivel up with it all the second our feet touch the ground?!"

"We didn't coming here did we?" Martha.

"Doesn't mean we won't going back!" rebuked Jane.

"If we can find out where he's getting this power from, maybe we can cut it off at the source!" announced Lucy.

"What do you think, Ruby?" That was Josephine.

The Doctor didn't see it, but Ruby's face blanched as four pairs of eyes turned on her. She wished Isobel was here, to help her out, but she was busy patrolling the house and grounds. She had been valiantly trying to get everyone to calm down, never one for confrontation. Ironic really, that the youngest member of the group was the most sensible one.

"I think, you should all cool off, for a start. Arguing is not going to get us anywhere, all we've got is each other." suggested the girl reasonably. "We've pretty much deduced that the only possible way to stop Scott, is using Isobel's key. We just need to work out how to use it."

"Your friend had more chance than any of us, and he didn't help us at all."

"Hey!" snapped Martha, "He did his best, I didn't see _you_ offering to step up to the plate!"

"He was part of the problem in the first place." The woman huffed.

"Need I point out, that the initial target was you, my lady." answered Lucy.

"Well, she could hardly help that." protested Jane.

"No more than the Doctor could help what happened to him." countered Martha.

Ruby sighed and flopped down on a nearby stool as the four of them started arguing once more. This was giving her a headache. Truthfully, she had wanted to defend The Doctor too, but she knew it would just rub people up the wrong way, she was nowhere near as confident as Martha. She caught sight of Kit, looking at her from her perch on The Doctor. She suddenly sat bolt upright, an idea forming in her head. She smiled, and scooted over, scooping up the surprised animal. The Doctor suddenly realised what she meant to do, as she assessed her route to the door, avoiding the discontent.

"Ruby Arduino! Don't you dare!" he hollered, startling everybody as he instantly shot up.

But it was too late, she offered him a small apologetic smile, before barrelling between Jane and Martha and legging it out of the door, into the darkness. A blast of cold air blew through the hut before the door snapped shut again. The four women stared after her, open-mouthed, and The Doctor ran to the door frame, trying to see where she had gone.

"Is the girl crazy?!" cried Josephine.

"What on earth is she doing?!" stuttered Lucy.

Martha realised as The Doctor, irked, turned back to face them, thunderous. She paled. "Oh no…she wouldn't…"

"I think you'll find she would," murmured her friend.

It was an off the cuff idea, but she couldn't think of any other solution, and the four squabbling hens and the unconscious Time Lord back at the hut hadn't given any other suggestions. She ran through the bitter cold, and shivered as she felt like icy fingers were reaching out to her, trying to touch her, grabbing her ankles and any part of her they could. They were desperate to be saved. She clung on to Kit for dear life, following her instincts to lead her to Isobel.

_The Doctor is going to be furious with me…_

She had a feeling though, he already was. Oh well, that was for another time. Right now, she just had to get to Isobel. She already shared DNA with one alien and managed to cope just fine, and as a result of that she seemed absorb a little bit of everyone she touched. Right now for example, she was borrowing from Martha's courage, and The Doctor's half brilliant, half crazy solutions.

"How could all of you let a teenage girl out into that by herself?!" roared The Doctor. "Didn't you think, Martha, that she would try and pull off something like this?"

Martha hated being scorned by the Doctor, so just stayed quiet. She knew he would calm down when they found her, and she could hardly be expected to know Ruby as well as he seemed to. He grabbed his coat, from the arm of the chair, and put it on, bustling outside.

"Martha, with me. The rest of _you_ stay here!" he ordered.

The Doctor knew exactly where he was going. Martha didn't have a clue, so just followed him. She did notice that she could almost make out footprints on the ground, but it must have been her eyes playing tricks on her. She turned to The Doctor.

"I'm sorry Doctor…" she said hesitantly, "I didn't think…"

"Neither did I." he sighed, "I think she's been around us too long."

Martha smiled slightly at that, he was probably right. She was just as worried about the girl herself, but she was reasonably certain that she could handle the situation, and so much more, come to think of it.

When Ruby found Isobel, they were back in the music room. She saw the flashing of light through the window, and somehow remembered how to get back there. She clutched the locket in her hand, and Kit was clinging to her for dear life as she shouldered the door open, falling through it, and landing behind Isobel, who was busy trying to keep Scott confined to this room. She looked tired, and Ruby wondered how she had managed to get the Scehele back here, it must have taken some doing.

"Ruby!" squeaked Isobel, "What are you thinking? Get out of here!"

"No! I was looking for you! Use me! I can be your host!" she explained breathlessly.

"A Time Lord couldn't handle it. No offence, but I don't think a teenage human will fair much better."

"You don't understand, I'm already kind of an open book. Kit, she's a Vegrandis. I've been looking after her."

The Scehele took a running dive for Ruby, who fell backwards, startled, but he reflected off a kind of net that Isobel was keeping up. Isobel kept looking between him, and the girl, kneeling on the floor, terrified, but not running. She realised she didn't have a choice, and sighed.

"The second I possess you, this net will fall. You need to be fast. Understand me?"

Ruby nodded. "OK, three, two…ONE!"

It happened so quickly Ruby was completely disorientated, she could suddenly hear Isobel's thoughts, as the Scehele broke free. What she didn't realise was that if a Riovaus could borrow her, so could a Scehele. She was like a door, wedged open with a brick. She screamed and cowered as it came at her, full tilt. There was a rush of movement in front of her, a brownish blur, and a hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby!" it was Martha's voice.

She opened her eyes, and looked up. The Doctor had intercepted Scott, grimacing and gritting his teeth as the think tried to scrape and slash away at him to possess him. Ruby was shaking, and Martha clutched her shoulder as much for her own reassurance as Ruby's. She got to her feet.

"Isobel?"

_I'm here._

The sensation caught up with her, like flood water, she could hear and feel both of the Doctor's hearts, and Martha's pounding with fear. She could hear Martha's frantic pleas for him to be ok, and the Doctor forcing back Scott, and the reassuring warmth that kept it all in check, was something small, purple, and furry.

_Hurry up! Open it! He won't be able to stand that for much longer!_

She fumbled to get the locket out from around her neck, she was so hurried she almost dropped it as she frantically searched for the catch. She ran her hands along the whole surface, and found a tiny indent. She grabbed hold of it, and pulled, it stuck, and her heart started racing as she thought it wasn't going to work. She could feel the Doctor losing his grip, and then it suddenly flew into the air and sprung open.

_Duck!_

Ruby did as she was told, grabbing Martha's hand, and the back of The Doctor's coat, pulling him away from Scott, and both of them to the floor by her, as something like a firework burst out of the locket. She watched, clutching Martha's hand with The Doctor's arm around her and Kit peering up from her lap.

They ducked again as the stream of heat and fire got bigger, and blew a huge hole, straight through the ceiling and roof, before exploding in a huge ball of colour, that filled up the whole sky, spreading out like a quilt, and laying gently on everything. Stars appeared in the sky, the garden came back to life. The house lit up, and Scott howled in rage and pain. Colour came back to the walls around them, and the floor they were crouched on.

The anguished cries that had been ringing in Ruby, and incidentally, the Doctor's, ears, died down. It was suddenly all quiet as the Scehele started shrivelling. What could have been eyes, glared at Ruby.

"Don't you think I'm done with _you_ girl!"

Then he exploded, shattering into black shards, that disappeared as soon as they hit the air. There was a quick flash, like a camera. The four of them blinked and looked around. Isobel suddenly shimmered into view, above their heads. She was smiling at them, the picture of health.

"You could be a family." she winked.

They looked around each other, suddenly realising they were all still clinging to the others, and with that, Isobel was gone, in a wisp of gold mist.

"All still alive?" asked Martha, breaking the silence.

"Just about." came the Doctor's cheerful reply.

"I'll get back to you on that," winced Ruby.

The Doctor stood up, walking over to pick up the locket as it clattered to the floor. Martha and Ruby were still recovering, plonked squarely on the floor. Neither of them felt like their legs could support them if they tried standing up. The Doctor was slowly walking around the room, investigating everything that Lord Scott had touched. Ruby dropped her head, staring at her hands, flat on the floor in front of her, and Kit nudged her stomach with a little cheep. She had suddenly gone quiet.

"Ruby?" asked Martha.

Ruby looked up, and, much to Martha's astonishment, tears were trickling down her face, she hurriedly wiped them away with a sleeve. "Ruby, what's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Isobel…"

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine." assured Martha.

Ruby shook her head, "No, that's not what I mean."

"Care to enlighten me?" she teased, gently.

"I thought she was Amber. I thought Isobel, was Amber. When I saw her…" her voice broke, "I miss my family, Martha."

Martha looked crestfallen as Ruby buried her head in her shoulder. Unsure of what to do, she wrapped her arms around the girl, just letting her cry. She looked up at the Doctor, who's face was all seriousness. He was glad she couldn't hear his thoughts any more, because right now, he was thinking exactly the same thing as Martha. They saw Ruby for what she was. A frightened young girl, torn away from her home and family, into danger and the unknown, and they had done it to her.

They were interrupted by the arrival of Lucy, Jane and Josephine. Ruby had luckily managed to pull herself together, she hated crying in public. It was bad enough that she had to face Martha and the Doctor after they'd seen her vulnerable. The three hurried over to them, Jane flew into Ruby's arms, clinging to her, Josephine and Lucy looked equally guilty.

"Are you all ok?" ventured Lucy, "We saw the explosion and found you. No-one hurt?"

"We're all fine Lucy." said the Doctor with a smile.

"No harm done." agree Martha.

Jane started bawling into Ruby's front, and the hesitant Ruby gingerly patted her back, in a 'there, there' kind of gesture, clueless as to what to do exactly.

"I'm so sorry Ruby!" sniffled Jane, "I should have gone with you! But I was scared, I was just a coward!"

"Nothing wrong with being a coward on occasion." stated The Doctor.

"Isobel…?" whispered Josephine.

"She's back home, she was fine." guaranteed Ruby. "Nothing to worry about."

"I'm glad." Josephine gave a watery smile.

Martha and Ruby got to their feet, and Kit flew excitedly around the heads of their three friends. The Doctor wandered across the room, and looked out of the window. The moon cast a bright silver light in the sky, so clear you could see by it. He saw the gardens, bright and blooming, beautifully kept, and he smiled to think he even helped a little. He heard the excited, relieved, chatter of the five people behind them, as they fussed and petted Kit. But he couldn't shake that…dream? Vision? Whatever it was. He stared into his own eyes, not thinking for a second the danger he had been warned about was passed. There was something after his companions, and he didn't know what. Maybe if he could get to the root of it, by finding whoever was trying to talk to him…

"Doctor?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Ruby. As he saw her ripped skirt, now about knee length, smudged cheeks, mussed up hair, and inquisitive eyes, he couldn't help feeling a rush of what could only be described as fatherly pride. He smiled at her and walked over.

"You ok? You looked zoned." smirked Martha.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just tired." He answered.

"Time Lords get tired?!"

Martha was teasing him, and he just smiled at her. Ruby was fiddling with something, in the seam of her dress. They all gave her a funny look, when she whipped out a tiny blue bag, and held it out. She tipped it, and of all things, a handful of seeds dropped out.

"What on earth?" Josephine hid a smile. Possession, aliens, shadows, and now this remarkable girl was worried about gardening.

"These were with the tools." explained Ruby, holding out a handful of apple seeds. "I heard somewhere that there's a one in ten chance of an apple seed sprouting, don't know if it's right or not. But there's ten seeds here." She carried on, "So if I plant all of them, we should get, something." She shrugged.

Martha looked at her in disbelief, "What, now?"

"As good a time as any."

"But it's the middle of the night!"

"Yes, and?"

Jane laughed, "You sound just like Isobel. I say we do it. It can be a way of seeing off the shadows."

The other didn't have the heart to protest, and they all looked at each other, before unanimously deciding to head for the garden. Ruby put the seeds back in the bag, and handed it over for Kit to hold, so she could be included.

They picked through the dark, and found a little patch that Isobel seemed to have been planning, right back at the main gate. It was neatly cleared away, either side, behind the roses, but with plenty of room. After a few weeds being pulled, and the ground being watered, only Josephine thought to bring a watering can, Jane and Ruby planted all of the seeds, in a neat circle, evenly spaced. Lucy had brought out some lanterns, and they were settled on every clear surface, giving the garden a warm glow. The nightmare was finally over.

After saying their goodbyes, The Doctor, Martha, Ruby and Kit, retreated to the TARDIS. Ruby couldn't stop yawning, and Martha was half asleep herself. Kit had fallen asleep in her mistress' arms, but The Doctor seemed perfectly fine. Martha leaned against the console, and Ruby sat on the step leading to it, fighting to stop her eyes from closing. She couldn't keep herself from thinking about Josephine, Lucy, Jane and Isobel. They were from a generation long before hers, but they were her friends. Martha saw the thoughtful look on her face, and perched beside her.

"I find not thinking about it stops the migraines." she grinned

"I'll try that then." Ruby returned the gesture.

They had reached some kind of understanding, it would seem. They still sparred for The Doctor's attention, but it was good natured. Credit where credit was due. They were fast asleep, using each other as pillows, as The Doctor set the co-ordinates for their next location. He laughed slightly, they were so human. Kit perched on his shoulder, snuggling into the crook of his neck, and dozed off.

"There's more to you than meets the eye my little friend, isn't there?" the Doctor muttered to himself.

The Tardis engines whirring didn't even serve as an alarm clock for his two exhausted companions, but as they were travelling, The Doctor kept a watchful eye on them. No way would anyone hurt them whilst he was around. They landed with a thud, which startled both girls to attention. Ruby still looked half asleep.

"What? Where are we?" yawned Martha. "You might have given us some warning."

"I did. Clearly you didn't hear me." The Doctor gave her that usual cheeky smile of his. "Even so, I needed to make a little detour, thought you might like to come along."

"You make us sound like children." Ruby covered her mouth as she yawned again.

"Compared to me, you are." The Doctor shrugged.

"Oh please, don't go there. I'm too tired." groaned Martha.

"Come on, look sharp."

The Doctor bounded to the doors, and pushed them open. Ruby and Martha winced as blazing sunlight assaulted their eyes. They stepped out, and seemed to be in some kind of car park. How, interesting. They did not look too impressed Martha was about to make some sarky comment, but The Doctor hushed her as a group of people walked passed. He joined on to the back of them, and motioned for the others to follow his lead. Well, they could hardly not. Realisation suddenly hit Ruby as she looked up. They were at Josephine Lawrence's house. But instead of looking bright and new and freshly painted, it had a noble, antiquated air about it, and it seemed far more friendly.

"Are we…" ventured Ruby, "…Following a tour guide?"

"Yessum." The Doctor beamed at her. "Shh!"

This was surreal. Just an hour or so ago, they had been walking these grounds, in the 19th Century. The group was all tourists, from every part of the world, many with large cameras. The three friends just neatly fitted in, well, with Kit keeping still, disguised as some kind of soft toy. They walked through the entrance, only hearing the tail end of what the Tour Guide was saying.

"Mrs Lawrence, Josephine, left all her worldly belonging to her daughters, Lucy and Jane. This house, and these artefacts have been passed down through the generations ever since. Most of it is still here, although some pieces are on loan at other museums. To the right, you will see the family Lawrence."

Automatically, The Doctor, Martha and Ruby turned to the right, and Ruby's jaw dropped. Above them, large as life, was a big oil painting, of the three people she had spent yesterday with, all beaming in front of the grand piano, in the music room. That wasn't all though, in the corner of the window, easily mistaken for light glinting off the surface, was a smiling girl, peaking above the pane. She stared for a while, before Martha grabbed her arm, and dragged her away to where the party were retreating.

"The Lawrence Mansion's most prized possession however, is the acres of garden, constantly kept up by a team of highly skilled gardeners. In particular, the orchard, which supplies shops all over the locality and beyond. Situated by the original main gate. It has been fondly named, by the family themselves, as 'Isobel's Orchard'." The woman paused for effect. "For those of you who enjoy a little legend. Rumour has it that the original gardener's daughter, Isobel, was murdered by a local noble, Lord Scott, who mysteriously disappeared himself, six months later. On the day that he vanished, the servants in the house all claimed that Isobel's ghost came back again to finish her work, because the orchard had not been planted at the time of her disappearance. Since then, she is said to come back every ten years, to check the upkeep of her garden, and to show them all how it's done."

They stopped again, and people gasped and muttered at what they saw. Ruby managed to weave her way to the front, and stopped dead. Either side of them, sheltering beautifully blooming roses, was a wall of tall, proud, beautifully blooming apple trees. Ten of them.


End file.
